Kingsport Sovereign Grace Church,
located at 905 Yadkin Street in Kingsport, Tennessee, would
like to invite you to listen to a message of sovereign grace
by their pastor, Gabe Stoniker. And now, Pastor Gabe Stoniker. I want to invite you to turn
with me this morning to Genesis 22. Genesis chapter 22. You know, we all have a lot of
needs, don't we? A lot of needs. We have different
needs. We have financial needs, physical
needs, emotional needs. We have a lot of needs. But there
is one need that is greater than all of those other needs put
together. We need to know that Christ has
dealt with our sin. I need to know that. I honestly need to know that.
Well, if you are listening this morning with that need, if you
have that need, I cannot think of a clearer, louder word of
assurance than Genesis 22. Genesis 22. Somebody will hear
that and think, Genesis 22? The word Christ is not even in
Genesis 22. Oh, He's in there. He's in there. Let me show you
something quickly in Luke 24. If you have your Bible open with
me, look at Luke 24. Verse 27 says, And beginning
at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all
the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. Himself. Verse 44, And He said unto them,
These are the words which I spake unto you while I was yet with
you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written
in the law of Moses. Moses wrote Genesis, Exodus,
Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. He said, all things must be fulfilled
which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets,
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Joel, all the prophets, and in the
Psalms concerning me. Concerning me. Then opened he
their understanding. that they might understand the
Scriptures. Now His disciples had the Scriptures
just like we have them right now. They held the Scriptures
just like people do today. They read the Scriptures just
like today. But these men right here even
walked with God for three and a half years. But one day God caused them to
realize that every word of the Scripture is about Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Every single word. Every bit of it is about Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. What an opening that is. It says
He opened their understanding. What an opening that is. It's a life-giving opening, you
know that? I pray the Lord might open up
our understanding today, this morning. Now back in Genesis
22, verse 1 says, And it came to pass after these things. What things is he talking about?
After what things? Well, back in Genesis chapter
12, the Lord came to this man Abram. That's what he was called
back then, Abram. And when the Lord came to him,
he was 75 years old. And he was an idol worshiper.
He had these little religious symbols that he held to and worshiped,
just like people do today. They have these little religious
symbols. They wear them around their necks and they worship
them. He was an idol worshiper. He was living in sin. That's what he was doing. And
in verse 10 of Genesis chapter 12, it says, There was a famine
in the land, and Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there,
for the famine was grievous in the land. And it came to pass,
when he was come near to enter into Egypt, that he said unto
Sarai his wife, Behold now I know that thou art a fair woman to
look upon. He said you're very beautiful.
Therefore it shall come to pass when the Egyptians shall see
thee that they shall say this is his wife and they will kill
me but they will save thee alive. Say I pray thee thou art my sister
that it may be well with me for thy sake and my soul shall live
because of thee. This man Abram lied on and he
denied his own wife. He was gonna give her to Pharaoh
just to save his own neck. You know what that is? You know
what you call that? Sin. Sin. And then in chapter 13 verse
5 says, Lot also which went with Abram had flocks and herds and
tents and the land was not able to bear them that they might
dwell together for their substance was great so that they could
not dwell together. Those two men just could not
dwell together. Why? Sin. That's why. Don't you believe
that God would have provided all their needs? They just couldn't
dwell together. Right here in chapter 13 verse
10 says, And Lot lifted up his eyes, and beheld all the plain
of Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere before the LORD destroyed
Sodom and Gomorrah, even as the garden of the LORD. like the
land of Egypt, as thou comest unto Zoar. Then Lot chose him
all the plain of Jordan, and Lot journeyed east, and they
separated themselves the one from the other." Separated. Sin. Verse 12, and it says, "...Abram
dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities
of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men
of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly."
Sin. That place was full of sin. The
people were full of sin. And then in chapter 15, God told
Abram that he was going to have a son. Chapter 15 verse 4 says,
Behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall
not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine
own bowels shall be thine heir. Verse 13, and he said unto Abram,
Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land
that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict
them four hundred years. They're going to be in bondage
for four hundred years. How come? Sin. sin. Chapter 16 in Genesis, verse
1, Now Sarai, Abram's wife, bare him no children. She had a handmaid,
an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold,
now the Lord hath restrained me from bearing. I pray thee,
go in unto my maid. It may be that I may obtain children
by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice
of Sarai. Why did Abram do that? Why did
he listen to his wife and do something he knew he should not
be doing? Why did he do that? Sin. Sin. Somebody could say, well,
he was trying to accomplish God's work. I know. It's called sin. Listen carefully
to this. Every man or woman who is trying
to accomplish God's work for Him is a sinner against God. Every man or woman who is trying
to accomplish God's work for Him is a sinner against God. Well, we're going to do God's
work. Yeah, we're just going to do God's work for Him. No,
no. God does His own work. We need
to always remember that. God does His own work. He said,
I will work and who shall let it? Who's going to stop me? Anything
other than acknowledging that is sin. It's sin. But look at chapter 17, verse
1 says, When Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord
appeared unto Abram and said unto him, I am the Almighty God. walk before me and be thou perfect. And I will make my covenant between
me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly. He said in
verse 15, as for Sarai thy wife, thou shalt not call her name
Sarai, but Sarah shall her name be. and I will bless her and
give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her and she
shall be a mother of nations, kings of people shall be of her.'
Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed, and said in his
heart, Shall a child be born unto him that is an hundred years
old, and shall Sarah that is ninety years old bear?" Why did
Abraham do that? Why did he laugh? Why did he
doubt? Sin. Sin. Verse 19, And God said, Sarah,
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed, and thou shalt call his
name Isaac, and I will establish my covenant with him for an everlasting
covenant and with his seed after him. This promised son will establish
my covenant." Who is that? Who is he talking about? That's
Christ. He's talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ, the promised Son of God. Well, in chapter 18, the Lord
visited Abraham and Sarah again. And He said, Sarah is going to
have a child. Verse 11, 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? She laughed at God. She did too. You know why? Sin. sin. Verse 13, And the LORD said
unto Abraham, Wherefore did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I of 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. Then Sarah denied, saying, I
laughed not. Sarah lied to God. You know that?
She lied to God. And in doing so, she called God
a liar. You know what that is? Sin. And then in chapter 19, God rained
down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. And he did that
because of their sin. And after all that, after everything
we just read, you'd think Abraham would have finally learned something,
didn't you? But look at chapter 20, verse
1. And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country,
and dwelled between Kadesh and Shur, and sojourned in Gerar. And Abraham said of Sarah his
wife, She is my sister. And Abimelech king of Gerar sent
and took Sarah. Sin. Sin. So chapter 22 verse 1, And it
came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. and said unto him, Abraham, and
he said, Behold, here am I. God is about to show him and
God is about to show us what it is going to take to pay the
penalty for all that sin. He said, Abraham, you're a father
now. Abraham, I'm a father. God the
father. The father of God. Abraham, you
have a son. One son in the eyes of God. Abraham, I have a son. The only
begotten son of God. Verse two, he said, take now
thy son. thine only Son, whom thou lovest, the One who is altogether lovely
in your eyes, the One who is all your delight, 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." A burnt offering was a sin offering. That's what it was. He said,
you take the one who is perfect to you, the apple of your eye,
and you offer him as a payment to God for all that sin. Now Abraham My son is sinless. But your son has sinned. And
the wages of sin is death. But I'm going to show you what
my son did for your son and for his seed. Isaac represents Christ. For in Isaac shall thy seed be
called." But Isaac also represents every sinner who has been placed
inside Christ. Every sinner that God the Father
put in Christ. Verse 3 says, 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. On the third
day, Abraham had three days of dread. He took Isaac out on a
three-day journey. Three days of dread for his son,
his only son. And so did God the Father. Christ laid in that tomb for
three days. And when He gave up the ghost
on that cross, God the Father made heaven go dark. His precious Son died and God
the Father said, Son, S-U-N, Son, stop shining. Stop shining. Verse 4 says, Then on the third
day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place of Pharaoh.
Isaac's end was set, and so is every man's, every man and woman. Our end is set. It's appointed
unto man once to die. Verse 5 says, 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. Everybody
else stay here. We're going alone. We're going
alone. The offering that was made to
God for sin was a transaction between God the Father and God
the Son alone. Alone. It's something only God
the Father and God His Son could accomplish. Verse 6 says, And
Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon
Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand
and a knife, and they went both of them together. Abraham took
the burden of this sin offering and laid it on Isaac, his son.
And that's what God the Father did for us. If He put us in Christ,
He took the burden of our sin and He laid it on His own Son. His own Son. Verse 6, And Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son,
and he took the fire in his hand." That's the wrath of God. That's
the judgment of God. Verse 6 says, "...and he took
a knife." That's the Word of God, which is sharper than any
two-edged sword. Our Lord said in John 12, I'm
not going to judge you. My Word will judge you in the
last day. What's going to judge us in that
last day as we stand before the throne of God? What will judge
us? This Word right here. You know
that? This Word. That's what's going to judge
us. And in absolute holy justice, God the Father, He took the weight
of sin, the weight of all the sin of His people, and He laid
that burden on His only precious Son. And he took the wrath and
he took his holy law and he said, come with me. Come with me. Can you imagine
that? He took all that sin, he took
all his wrath, he took his law and he said to his precious son,
you come with me. Now every time I read this next
verse of Scripture, this just is so precious to me. I want you to listen to a conversation
between God the Son and God His Father. Verse 7 says, And Isaac
spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father? And he said,
Here am I, my son. Did God the Father ever stop
loving God the Son? Did He ever stop loving God His
Son? Not for one second. But the scripture says, God is
holy. Our Lord said in Psalm 22, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But he went on to say, Thou art
holy. Thou art holy. Verse 7, Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and he said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son.
And he said, Behold the fire and the wood. I see judgment
and I see sin. But where is the Lamb? Where
is the substitute? Where is the blood? Where is
the payment? Where is the appeasement? Our
sacrifice. Verse 8, Abraham said, My son,
God will provide Himself. God will provide Himself. Not only will he provide a sacrifice
for himself, but he will provide himself for a sacrifice. Abraham said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went both of
them together. 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." That's every single one of us
right there. That's you and me, bound in sin, bound by the holy
law, judged by God and sentenced to die. Verse 10, And Abraham
stretched forth his hand, and 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 thine 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. 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." That ram right there is our King. The King of kings and
Lord of lords, the Lamb of God, who willingly became caught and
willingly let them press a thicket of thorns into his head, and
willingly allowed himself to be thrown onto the altar of God,
and willingly offered himself instead of us. Behold the Lamb
of God! Oh, now I see the cleansing wave,
the fountain deep and wide. Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save,
points to His wounded side. The cleansing stream I see, I
see. Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked, and behold, I plunge, and oh, it cleanseth me. Oh,
praise the Lord, it cleanseth me. It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth
me. I don't believe Abraham took
the time to get Isaac off of the altar. I don't believe that
for one minute. I believe he grabbed that ram and threw him
right on top of his son. I believe Isaac died in that
ram, under that ram. I believe he threw that ram right
on top of Isaac and plunged that knife as fast as he could and
slit his throat. And I believe that blood poured
all over Isaac. I believe it ran all over him
and all over that altar. And as soon as that ram died,
Abraham cut those ropes and said, get up my son. God says you're
free to go. You're justified. Redeemed. A substitute has died for you. Verse 14, 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. That means the Lord
will provide. Can you imagine their conversation
as they walk back down that mountain? Can you imagine? Can you imagine
Abraham's joy? Oh, and his thankfulness? Can
you imagine them going back to those servants and those servants
look at Isaac and say, what happened? Isaac's standing there covered
in blood. He's just covered in dried blood. And he said, God had mercy on
me through a substitute. That's what happened. And that's
all I'm telling you today. That's all I'm telling you this
morning. God had mercy on me. He covered me in blood. He paid
my sin debt and then He set me free. God had mercy on me. God have mercy on us all. If you from sin are longing to
be free, look to the Lamb of God. Until next Sunday morning,
may our Lord bless His Word to our hearts. You have been listening to a
message by Gabe Stoniker, pastor of Kingsport Sovereign Grace
Church in Kingsport, Tennessee. If you would like a copy of this
message or to hear other messages of Sovereign Grace, you can write
to our physical mailing address at 905 Yadkin Street, Kingsport,
Tennessee 37660 or log on to our website at kingsportsovereigngracechurch.com. If you would like to come and
worship with us, our service times are Sunday morning Bible
study at 10 o'clock a.m., worship at 10.45 a.m. and 6 o'clock p.m.,
Wednesday evening at 7.30 p.m. Please tune in next Sunday morning
at 8.30 for another message of God's free and sovereign grace.