Alright, go with me if you would
back to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11, let's read these
three verses again. Verse 17, by faith Abraham, when
he was tried, offered up Isaac. He offered up Isaac. And he that
had received the promises offered up his only begotten son. he offered up his only begotten
son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called,
accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the
dead, from whence also he received him in a figure." Now we know
this story well, don't we? We've heard this story many times.
Isaac was the promised son, right? The one by whom God said all
the blessings would come. Isaac. It's going to be in Isaac.
It's not Ishmael. It's in Isaac. Spiritually, he
represents the Lord Jesus Christ. Abraham is known as the father
of the faithful. Spiritually, he represents God
the Father. This transaction that takes place
between Abraham and Isaac, this transaction we just read about,
this is one of the clearest illustrations that we have of the transaction
that God the Father and God the Son made in the redemption of
their people. One of the clearest examples
we have, this beautiful, holy transaction. reveals to us what
God demanded and what Christ endured and provided in the sacrifice
of himself. Tonight I want us to go through
this story. And I want us to see our substitute with each
piece of this story. I want us to relate it to Christ
our sacrifice as we go through it. I want us to see the comparison
as we go through the story. I want to worship him. honor
Him, praise Him, and remember Him through this wonderful transaction. What a transaction. What a great,
great transaction. God recorded this in His Word
for us. How kind. Let's start by seeing
the necessity of the transaction. How vital it was that this transaction
be made. Verse 17 says, By faith Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received
the promises offered up his only begotten son." Do we see how
factual, how dogmatic that is? Abraham offered up Isaac. He
offered up his only begotten son. Now, again, we know this
story. Did Abraham actually plunge the
knife into Isaac? No. No. But God says right here that
Abraham's sacrifice was complete. Isn't that right? He says it
was complete. It was done. He offered him up. That's what God said. If Abraham
did not stab the knife into Isaac's chest, why would God say he offered
him up? Two reasons. The second one I'll
give in a minute. The first one is God looks on
the heart. God looks directly on the heart.
To Abraham, in his heart, it was done. It was done. It was already finished. Abraham did it. He committed
it in his heart. Now this is what that tells us.
Even if we have not committed to certain sins, even if we have
not openly committed to certain sins, we've committed about every
sin there is in this heart. Isn't that right? And God looks on the heart and
in His eyes they're done. They're done. We are, in God's
eyes, we are as vile as we know our heart to be. In God's eyes,
we are as vile as we know our mind to be. They're done. We committed them. We've committed
mountains of sins against Him. Mountains and mountains and mountains. of sins against him and they
must be dealt with. They must be. A sin offering
must be made. And God declares the gospel to
us of how that sin offering was made by the sacrifice of our
Lord himself. Here's where our story begins. Our substitute in this sacrifice
begins. Go with me to Genesis 18. Genesis 18 verse 9 says, And
they said unto him, this is our Lord and two angels with him. They said unto him, Where is
Sarah thy wife? And Abraham said, Behold in the
tent. And he said, I will certainly
return unto thee according to the time of life. And lo, Sarah
thy wife shall have a son. And Sarah heard it in the tent
door which was behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old
and well stricken in age, and it ceased to be with Sarah after
the manner of women. Therefore Sarah laughed within
herself, saying, After I am waxed old, shall I have pleasure, my
Lord, being old also? And the Lord said unto Abraham,
Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of a surety bear a child
which am old? Is anything too hard for the
Lord? At the time appointed I will
return unto thee according to the time of life, and Sarah shall
have a son." Romans 4 mentions the deadness of Sarah's womb. No life in her. The deadness
of Sarah's womb, the exact same thing can be said about a young
woman named Mary. The exact same thing. No life
in her. God's messenger came to her and
he said, you're going to have a son. And she said, how can
this be seeing I know not a man? No life in me. How can this be? There's no life in me. And he
said, the life of God is coming to you. The life of God Almighty. Man is not going to take part
in this at all. This is going to be totally by the hand and
the grace of God. And through the work and the
grace of God, behold, a virgin shall conceive and bring forth
a son. And she's going to call his name
Emmanuel. God with us. And he said in verse
14, is anything too hard for the Lord? Is anything too hard
for the Lord? It shall happen. He shall come. He is coming. Look with me at
Genesis 21. Genesis 21 verse 1 says, And
the Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto
Sarah as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, who Sarah bare to him, Isaac. And Abraham circumcised his son
Isaac, being eight days old, as God had commanded him. He
circumcised him at eight days old. Verse 5, And Abraham was
a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born unto him.
And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh so that all that
hear will laugh with me. She rejoiced so greatly. She
bore a son out of the deadness of her womb. God showed his kindness
to her. God kept his promise to her and
she rejoiced in it. And she said, God has made me
to laugh and everybody who hears this is going to laugh with me.
I'll tell you somebody who laughed with her. a man named Simeon. When our Lord was, earthly speaking,
eight days old, he was brought into the temple to be circumcised
according to and in fulfillment of the law. And when Simeon saw
this eight-day-old holy child, He laid hold of that child, he
lifted him up in his arms, and I can see this man, I promise
you, Simeon knew who this was. I promise you, when you lay eyes
on God, it's not a mundane thing. It's not a, I can see this man
with such excitement and joy and tears in his eyes, crying,
I can die in peace. I can die in peace, for my eyes
have seen thy salvation." Don't you know Simeon studied the eyes? He looked into and studied the
eyes of the eight-day-old God-man. Can't you imagine him as he holds
him? He knows who this is. He's read
about him. He read Isaiah 7, a virgin shall
conceive and bear a son. And here he is holding God. I wonder what the eyes of a child
look like who currently has all the government on his shoulders. Can you imagine? Don't you know
Simeon looked at his shoulders? thinking all the government is
right there. He studied him. He knew what
the scripture said about him. He was holding sinlessness. Can you imagine? He had in his
hands the only thing that was sinless on earth. Oh, I see why he is such a sweet
smelling savor to God. He is God. This is God. Simeon knew as soon as he saw
Him, I can die in peace. He came. The Savior came. The sacrifice for sin came. God kept His promise. That's
what we have. that for 4,000 years the saints
before us were hoping for. We now can look back and say
God kept His promise. The Savior came. The hope of
glory, He came. Look with me at Genesis 22. Verse one says, and it came to
pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said
unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. When our Lord confessed
his union with his people in baptism, as he was coming up
out of the water, God the Father spoke out loud and he said, this
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. My firstborn, my
only begotten. Well pleased. Verse 2, He said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell
thee of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled
his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac
his son, and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose
up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then
on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place
afar off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. Well, wait a minute, Abraham.
I thought you said you were going to sacrifice your son. That's
right. And both of you are going to
come again. That's right. Well, how can that be? Because
God said so. God said so. God said I am to
offer him. And God also said through his
seed shall the blessing come. Well, how can that be? You can't
cling to both. Oh, yes, I can. If God said it,
amen. Amen. If God said it, amen. Abraham
believed that God was able to raise him from the dead. Isn't
that what we read in Hebrews 11? Abraham believed that God
was able to raise him from the dead. Now to this point, I never
realized this before, to this point in history, no one had
ever been raised from the dead. Nobody. He didn't have any examples
to go on. Nobody. He was convinced in his
heart, God, I'm going to kill him just like God told me to.
And this is the son that the blessing is coming through. And
he believed in his heart God was able to raise him from the
dead. Why would he believe that if nobody had ever been raised
from the dead? It's because everything about this account points us
to Christ. God caused him to believe that
to point us to Christ. God said, you take your only
begotten well beloved son to the top of that mountain and
you offer him there for a sacrifice, a sacrifice for sin. And Abraham
took the fuel for consumption. He took the wood. He took the
fuel for consumption. That wood represents our sin. It's man's sin that keeps God's
fiery wrath burning. It's man's sin that keeps that
fire going. It said, Abraham clave the wood. That means he split the wood.
He split it wide open. He exposed it for what he is.
He got to the heart of what it truly is. And then he laid it
on his son. Isaiah said, He carried our griefs
and our sorrows. That wood is our sin. He carried
it. Our sin was split wide open,
exposed for what it truly was, and laid on Him. Verse 6 says,
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it
upon Isaac his son. He took what needed to be consumed
and laid it on his son. Verse 6 says, And he took the
fire in his hand, he took what would do all the consuming into
his own hand. Verse 6 says, And he took a knife,
a sharp two-edged sword, and they went, both of them, together. God the Father and God the Son
laid hold of sin They laid hold of the fiery judgment, and they
laid hold of the holy law of God's word. And they took him
to the top of a mountain, Golgotha's Hill, the place of the skull,
Mount Calvary. Verse 7 says, And Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father, and said, My father. And he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? You
know what he was asking? Where is the gospel? That's what he was asking. Where
is the gospel? A man can lay hold of the wood. This is important. A man can
lay hold of the wood. That represents our sin. A man can lay hold of the fire,
it represents God's wrath and judgment. A man can lay hold
of the knife, the sharp two-edged sword, sin, wrath, and law. A man can lay hold of sin, wrath,
and law. He can lay hold of sin, wrath,
and law, but without a lamb, there's no gospel. Without a
lamb, there's no gospel. He could dwell on the wood. He
could hound the wood. He'd be speaking the truth. Man
is sinful. He'd have it. You got it. Man
is sinful. He could dwell on the fire. His
whole message could be on the subject of God's wrath. He'd
be telling the truth. Did the man tell the truth? He
sure did. God is a God of judgment and wrath against sin. He could
dwell on the law. And he'd be declaring the truth.
This is what God demands to stand in His presence. This is what
a man will be judged by. A man could have all of those
truthful things, but without a lamb, there is no gospel. The
gospel is in the lamb. Verse 7 says, And Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father, and said, My father, and he said,
Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood, But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. So they went both of them together.
John the Baptist cried, behold, the lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. The apostle John said, I looked
and I saw a throne and seated on that throne was a lamb as
it had been slain. Abraham said, My son, God will
provide his own lamb. That's the gospel. God will provide
his own lamb. And he said, My son, God will
provide himself to be that lamb. He'll provide his own lamb. He'll
provide himself to be that lamb. Verse 9, And they came to the
place which God had told him of, And Abraham built an altar
there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and
laid him on the altar upon the wood. He was touched with the
feeling of all that wood. Touched with the feeling of our
infirmities. Verse 10 says, And the father
stretched forth his hand, and took the holy word of God's law
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 lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I
know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son,
thine only son from me." Now Isaac is going to show us our
condition. Isaac now is going to represent
our condition through Christ our substitute. Verse 13, And
Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him
a ram caught in a thicket by his horns, by the crown of his
head. Mark 15 says, And they clothed
our Lord with purple, and plaited a crown of thorns, and put it
about his head. Verse 13 goes on to say, And
Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt
offering in the stead of his son. That ram is Christ. That ram is Christ taking the
place of his condemned people. When we started this, I said
there was two reasons why Hebrews 11, 17 says Abraham offered up
his son. Abraham did not actually plunge
the knife into Isaac, his son. He did not actually plunge the
knife into the one that God told him to sacrifice. But verse 13
right here says, Abraham actually plunged the knife into Isaac
his son. Abraham actually plunged the
knife into the one that God told him to sacrifice. Abraham plunged
the knife into that ram. And when he plunged that ram,
he was plunging his son. according to God Almighty in
Hebrews 11 verse 17. That ram did not just take the
responsibility away from Isaac. God said He offered up Isaac. God said He offered up His only
begotten son. That ram became Isaac. That ram was made to be Isaac. He didn't just take that responsibility
away. That ram was made to be Isaac. God said he offered up his only
begotten son. In that ram, Isaac was offered
up. In that ram, Abraham obeyed God. And in that ram, God was satisfied.
Verse 14 says, And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. That means the Lord will see
or provide. The Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. As it
is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. If we want to see God's provision
for a sinner, all we have to do is look to the mount. That's all we have to do. In
the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. God will provide. In the mount of the Lord it shall
be seen. And that's what we're looking
to right there. the mount of the Lord. God will
provide. God will provide. A substitute. Not only a substitute
who took our place, but a substitute who became us. Became us. On that mountain of
God's judgment and wrath. I died. Didn't Paul say, I'm
crucified. I was crucified. In Christ, I
was crucified. Nevertheless, I live. I died
in Him. He became us. We see our own
sacrifice in Him. Our own sacrifice. And in the
same way God raised Him up, we believe and we are sure, through
God's Word, we believe and we are sure that through His death,
Through that sin being laid on Him, through the law smiting
Him, through God's wrath consuming Him, because of our Lamb dying
as us, God is going to raise us up at the last day. He's going
to raise us up at the last day, living as Him. He died as us,
we live as Him. He said, as He is, so are we. Now, we're about to worship Him
for doing this. We're about to remember Him for
doing this. We're about to confess. That's
what this is. We're going to confess that we
are partakers with Him in this. Partakers of Him in this. We confess it openly before God
and each other. He died for me. I died in Him.
We don't want to take it as the scripture says, unworthily, not
discerning the Lord's body. That's what unworthily means.
It's not, well, I just don't feel worthy. I'm too much of
a sinner. If you're not a sinner, you're unworthy. Only sinners are worthy. We take
this discerning the Lord's body. He became me and that was what
I had coming to me. And because of that, as He is, so am I. That's what
I have coming to me. We take this discerning His body,
believing that His one sacrifice accomplished everything God required,
every single thing God required to settle our debt and make us acceptable in His
presence. And if we don't believe that our Lord became us and settled
it all, if we believe we need to add something to it or take
something from it, let's not take the table. It's finished. It is completely, totally finished. We're not trusting in anything
but that right there alone. That death alone. If we see our
own sacrifice in Him, then let's take of this table. Let's confess
it. Let's honor Him. Let's worship
Him. Let's thank Him. Praise Him for that great sacrifice
He made.