Okay. And it's an honor to be
asked to preach anywhere by a pastor. And I concur with Brother John. We don't just pick a preacher
out of the hat. You think about it, you pray
about it, to have a man preach for you. I'm the same way, I'm exactly
like him, that I will not have just anybody preach to our people.
I'm jealous for them, that they hear the truth. But to be asked
to preach three times, a special meeting, just me? That's what they used to do for
my dad, you know. I feel so unworthy. But, you know, Charles Spurgeon's
grandfather was a preacher. He was pastor of a church for
over 50 years. His name was James. And one time
he asked his grandson, Charles, to come preach for him. And he
was late getting there. So James, Charles' grandfather,
started preaching from a text. Well, he hadn't walked Charles
late. And his grandfather said, well,
there's my grandson. And he said, he may be a better
preacher than me, but he doesn't have a better gospel than I do.
And my dad may be a better preacher than me. We both admit that. He doesn't
have a better gospel. You know what he would tell you
tonight if he were standing here? He would tell you that his ministry
is over. That right there sits and remains.
That's the man that God has raised up for this hour, for you. That's what he would tell you.
Elijah? No. Put Elisha in his place,
didn't he? Paul? No, Timothy in his place. Moses, Joshua, and so on and
so forth. We've got the same gospel, and it takes the same
spirit to bless it, doesn't it? And what a preacher you have.
You know that by now, don't you? How blessed you are, how blessed.
And I do not take this lightly. He does not. I have but one message. By the
way, Spurgeon, his grandfather said, you come on up here and
preach. And he took the same text that his grandfather was
preaching from and just started preaching from. We've got one
message, don't we? One message. Turn with me into
the book of Genesis. Genesis chapter 22. Genesis 22. You've heard this story before.
Most of you, I'm sure, have heard this before. Perhaps John has
preached from it here. Though he's preached from it
somewhere. Maybe someone in here has it.
I envy the person who's never heard this. You know, one way that we may know
that the gospel is gospel to us indeed is it's always good
news. It never grows old. To a sinner,
the gospel is always good news. God's mercy. You hear of God's
grace. Christ crucified is always good
news to a sinner. And the old, old stories of the
types and pictures and symbols of Christ in the Old Testament. They're just that, they're pictures
that God had in his Old Testament, emblem symbols of his son who
was to come. The whole Old Testament, you
know this, John said, that the whole Old Testament says somebody's
coming, somebody's coming. Now, you can't know the Christ
of the new without knowing something of the old, can you? The Old
Testament proves him to be the Christ. Everything in the Old Testament
is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't you love to look
at pictures of your family still? I mean, you have them, you enjoy
them in person, but don't you like to go back and look at their
old picture? Do you ever go back and look at your children's old
pictures? Tonight we were sitting at the table at John's house,
and they started passing around old pictures of us. John and
Vicki, when they were just real young, and Mindy and I, and Mike
and Debbie got in on it, and we saw 104 pictures of their
grandchildren in it. Because you love them. You never
get tired of talking about of looking at pictures of those
you love, do you? Never grow tired of them. This
is a picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, Christ in Him crucified.
Now, this is a real story, and our pastor was so good at this.
We were so blessed that a man would take the real story of
real men and real women in the scriptures and tell their story
and we could enter into it. Abraham's a real man. in a real
world of sin and troubles and heartaches and trials, he has
to really walk by faith, believe in God. And so do all of God's
people. The just shall live by faith.
We walk by faith, not by sight. We must take God at His word,
and that faith will be tried. It must be tried. It must be
proved to be real. proves himself through these
trials to us, and his word, and his word. All right, let's look
at verses one and two. It says, it came to pass after
these things that God did tempt Abraham, try 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, 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 he was silent for three days. He was silent. That's all he
told. The faith is taking God at his word. This is what faith
is in a nutshell. You believe in God, that God
is God. Not trying to be God. He is God,
reigning, ruling. You believe God. You believe
his word, everything he says about himself, about man, about
Christ, about salvation. That's faith, isn't it? And you
believe his son. All your hope, all your salvation
is in Jesus Christ. That's faith, in a nutshell.
Well, Abraham believed God. That's what, in Galatians and
Romans, it keeps telling us that, in Hebrews, that he believed
God. What God had promised him, God was able, and he hoped against
hope, and he just took God at His word. But faith will be tried. Abraham had already gone through
severe trials, hadn't he? He'd already had to kick one
of his sons out, didn't he? Ishmael. What a type that is.
But Abraham is now 118 or 120 years old. It says, after these things,
God did try or tempt Abraham. After these things, after these
severe trials that he went through. And our most severe trials may
be yet to come. But God, but God, he said, with
the temptation, we'll make a way. His grace is sufficient. We're
going to find this out through Abraham. This is a real story. of a real man named Abram whom
God chose. God chose him, he's one of his
elect. God called him. God called him. This is how you
know you're one of God's elect, by the call. Whom the Lord did
predestinate, he called, didn't he? Abraham was called by God,
called out, out of his idolatry to follow and serve and believe
the living God, wasn't he? And so are all of God's people.
That's how you know them. They come out, they come out
of their father's house, they come out of their religion, they
renounce their past. You know, most people in grace
churches, and I venture to say that most people in here who
are believers, came out of religion. You were in false religion, weren't
you? And the Lord showed you the truth. showed you Christ,
showed you the true and living God, and he brought you out of
that religion, that old religion, and the first thing you did was
renounce that past. You renounced it, didn't you?
Well, that's what Abraham did. He renounced it. He left his
father, left his home, left his family. Abraham believed God
because God gave him that faith, that saving faith. Now, it's easy to say, I believe.
He didn't. It's easy to say that. James
said, show me. You say you have faith, show
me. Well, the Lord, Abraham's going to show it. He's going
to reveal it. And this is the test above all
tests. He said, take your son, your only son. This is a real
story. And we're going to get to the story in the story in
just a minute. But this is a real story and a real test and all
of God's people Look at Luke 14 with me. Go to Luke chapter
14. All of God's people are going to be called upon to endure this
test. Take your son, your daughter,
your husband, your wife, your father, your mother. Greatest proof, and I'm learning
this more and more, of true faith, of true love, Is it if we love? Our Lord, we
love the truth and love his gospel and love his church and love
his kingdom over and above our flesh and blood. That's the greatest, but wouldn't
you say that? I see that more and more all the time. Look at
Luke 14. This is what our Lord said in
verse 25. There went great multitudes with
him and he turned and said unto them at any Man or woman, come
to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children
and brethren and sisters, yea, in his own life also. It doesn't
say he'll be an uncommitted disciple. It doesn't
say he'll be a poor disciple. It says he cannot be my disciple. Let me give you an illustration
of that. Brother Walter Grover. Now, you know the Lord is not
telling us to hate anyone. In fact, he tells us to love
our enemies. Pray for them despite their illusion.
But here's the illustration. Brother Walter Groover, back
in the early 60s, he was working in a steel mill in Alabama. In Texas at the time. Raised
in Alabama. Moved to Texas, worked in a steel
mill, Young children, four young children at a time, four at a
time. Five, all of them. Five babies, the oldest of which
was about seven years old. The youngest was about six months
old. The Lord called him to preach and he felt called to go to the
Yucatan, Mexico. Primitive, hostile, difficult
wilderness. He didn't know the language hardly
at all. Rough place. He sold his, he
quit his job, sold his house, took those five babies, and was
going to move to Mexico. And he did. Well, before he left,
his parents, the grandparents of those children, were distraught.
They were upset. And they said to him, Bill, they
said, you can't love your children and do that to them. You must not love your children.
if you take them down to that hostile land. Do you think he
loved his children? Of course he did. He just loved
Christ more. And you know what? Our Lord said
there's no man that hath left father, mother, husband, wife,
son or daughter, houses or land for my sake and the gospel that
he won't receive a hundredfold in this life with eternal life.
You know what? Every one of his children. And his grandchildren. And their
spouses. Abraham, take your son. Believer,
take your son or your daughter. And this is a test. This is a
test. Because in glory, you know in
glory, there's not going to be relationships like this. Not
going to be husbands and wives. Fathers and mothers. None. We're
not going to be married and given in marriage. We're all going
to be the bride of Christ. Well, this is the greatest proof. Abraham, take your son. Take
your son. Faith will be tried. Now, this
story is not primarily about Abraham. This story is not about
Abraham and his great faith, although the Lord does commend
his faith. because Abraham was about to
do something that it's impossible for a man to do. What this is
commending is the grace of God that gave him this faith to do
this. And this is a picture of a greater story of the Lord of
God Almighty taking his son, his only son, his well-beloved
son, and sacrificing him on Calvary's tree. How do we know God loves
us? He spared not his only son. How did God know we love Him? Well, He gave us that love, but
how do we know? Let me give you another illustration.
Eli. When Samuel came to Eli and said,
God's gonna kill both of your sons. You know what he said? He said, it's the Lord. It's
the Lord. Did he love those boys? Sure
he did. You love your wayward children,
don't you? But when they came to him and
said they took the ark, the ark of the covenant is gone. He died. He couldn't take that. That's a picture. That's a death.
Which would you rather have taken from you, the gospel or somebody
you love? That's a death. That's a death.
Abraham said, okay. But, now let's look at the story
behind the story. Okay? The story behind the story. The reason God had Abraham do
this. The reason this was written in the scripture. The reason
everything is written in the scripture. The tale of Christ and him crucified.
Verse three, it says, Abraham rose up early in the morning,
saddled his ass, took two of his young men with him, Isaac
his son, claimed the wood for the burnt offering, rose up and
went unto the place of which God had told him. Early in the
morning, he rose up before dawn. When did the story of salvation
begin? When was Christ crucified? 2,000
years ago. Is that when it started? Oh,
no. In the mind, in the will, in the purpose of God, this thing
started before time began. Early. Christ is called the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. Long before this world
was in existence, Christ was the Lamb slain. Long before there
was a sinner, God purposed this thing of salvation. Early. Early. It says there was preparation
involved. Abraham saddled the ass and claimed the wood, and
our Lord, John Newton, We love John Newton. I remember as a
very young man reading a sermon by him entitled, The Genius of
the Gospel. In the gospel, people talk about
men being geniuses. There's only one true genius,
and that's God himself. The creator of the universe.
The creator of all things. Oh, the wisdom. Oh, the depth
of the wisdom of God. Ways past it, find it out. And
the character and genius of the gospel. What it took. Oh, the
wisdom of God's salvation. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Preparation involved. Scripture
says a day is a thousand years. God spent, as it were, a thousand
years into preparation of one day. Everything, every jot and tittle
of the gospel is purposed by God long ago. It's all perfectly
fulfilled in Christ. Oh, the wisdom. Well, it says
that he claimed the wood, and I thought about Isaac, about
Abraham doing all this, and he had time to think. He had time
to think about what he was going to do. Three-day journey. That
was the longest three days of his life. He had to count the
cost, didn't he? And he did it anyway. And he's
claving that wood, and he's going to sacrifice his son. He's going
to do what God told him to do. He's not going to do it reluctantly.
He's going to do it willingly. He's going to do it because God
said so, and if it's pleasing to God, he's going to do it.
And I thought about how the scripture says it pleased the Lord to bruise
his son. Did God take great pleasure in
killing his son? Oh, no. May I speak this way? Did it
grieve him in his heart that his son had to go through it?
Certainly it did. Certainly it did. God doesn't even take pleasure
in the death of the wicked. But knowing what his son was
going to go through before time began, all that time. Abraham. But it had to be done. God said
so. And Christ had to come. He had to do that. Christ must
suffer or our sins won't be put away. My, my, think about that. On the third day, verse four,
Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. He lifted
up his eyes and saw the place afar off. You know, God saw this
thing afar off. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning of the world. God saw us in Christ afar off. Christ saw what he was about
to do afar off. And we see afar off, don't we?
These Old Testament saints in Hebrews 11, it says they saw
things afar off. They looked to the Christ who
was to come. Thousands of years. This was, I think, 1,870 years
before Christ came. Christ himself said, of Abraham. He said, Abraham, your father,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it. When did Abraham,
he say, did Abraham believe Christ? Yes, he did. He saw his day,
he saw clearly that Christ was to come to substitute for sinner
in the stead of sinner, the lamb of God, to put away the sins
of God's people. He heard the message. It was
passed down from Adam to Abel to Zerubbabel. They all heard
this, all the Old Testament saints were saved by faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Abraham had the gospel preached
to him, didn't he? That's what the Hebrews said. How did he
see Christ? When did he see Christ? Right
here. As I hope your pastor pray, as I hope we'll see him afresh. Well, look at it, verse five.
Abraham said unto his young men, he had two young men with him,
two servants. And he 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. They were going to go up
on this mountain, Abraham and his son. He had two young men
with him, though, preceding that. Two young men. Do you remember
when our Lord took Peter, James, and John up on the mountain and
was transfigured? When He peeled back His flesh
so that they saw Him as He was. You remember that? Do you remember
there were two men up on that mountain talking to our Lord? Two young men. Two young men. You say, Moses wasn't young.
He was then. He is now. He's young. He has
the dew of youth on his brow. It was Moses and Elijah talking
to the Lord Jesus Christ on that mountain that these men represent.
Moses and Elijah were talking to our Lord Jesus Christ. Why? What were they talking about?
What does it say? It says they were speaking of, they were talking
of the decease, the death which Christ should accomplish, finish. They were talking about Christ
who was about to go to the cross and put away the sins of God's
people to be the substitute, be the lamb of God, to take away
the sin of people out of every tribe, kindred, nation and tongue
under heaven, the world. That's what they were talking
about. And that's what the whole Old Testament talks about. The
law and the prophet, to him, give all the prophets witness.
Being witnessed by the law and the prophets, Romans says. That's
what the whole Old Testament speaks of. The Old Testament's
not about the Jews, it's about Jesus Christ. The law and the
prophet, okay? But then when it's time for,
Abraham to take his son up there and offer him to God as a sacrifice,
they can't go. The law can't save us, can it? This thing is done by the father
and the son on Calvary's tree, this thing of salvation. There
were 12 in the garden with our Lord. 12 men hit each other. Then they went to the garden
of Gethsemane and he took three with him, didn't he? But when
Christ went up to Calvary, it was him and the father, just
like this. He said, you abide here, abide
right here. Did you notice there was an ass
there? An ass. How did Christ get into Jerusalem?
He rode on a foal, coat of man, coat of foal, He said, you stay
here, you got to stay here. I and the lad will go yonder
and worship. Going up to worship. Now the
greatest incident of worship in all the scripture is Christ
and him crucified. No one worshiped God like Jesus
Christ did when he laid down his life for the glory of God. Now that's worship, isn't it?
And you know what? The father worshiped the son,
I tell you. The son worshiped the father
on Calvary's tree, and the father worshiped the son there. So much
so that he said, since you've done this, son, I'm gonna give
you a name which is above every name. That every knee will bow
and every tongue will confess. I'm gonna call you God. Under the sun, he saith, thy
throne, O God, is forever. Because of what he did on Calvary's
tree. And all the heavens worship Him.
This was the greatest act of worship ever by the Son and even
by the Father of the Son. And then Abraham said, I and
the land will go yonder to worship and we'll come again. We'll come
again. This is what Hebrews speaks of,
and Romans speaks of, and Galatians speaks of, that Abraham believed
God. He believed that God promised
that of the seed of Isaac, of his seed, which was Isaac, the
promised son, that God would bless all the nations of the
world through that seed. So he believed that God was going
to raise him somehow. He didn't know how, but he believed
that the son was going to rise. He had to. He has to. If that son stays dead, all the
promises are no good. They mean nothing. If the son
of promise doesn't rise, if he's dead, the promises mean nothing. Jesus Christ arose. He's not
dead. He lives. All the promises of
God are in Him concerning the son. He's going to see the travail
of his soul and be satisfied. He's going to see his seed. Isaiah
53 says, well, that wouldn't happen unless Christ arose. Every
time Paul, the apostle priest, he brought up the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because we worship a living Lord. We worship a Lord. You know,
the Catholics, they love a helpless Jesus, don't they? They love
him. They love these pictures of him lying helpless in Mary's
lap or hanging on a cross. That was a brief time when he
was hanging on that cross. Our Lord is now seated at the
right hand of the majesty on high, living, reigning, and ruling. We're in his hand. By the way,
he was never in Mary's lap. He was never in Mary's arm. But
I'll tell you this, Johnny, she was in his. The day of her death,
when she died, he came and lifted her in his arm and took her. So it will be with every one
of God's people. We worship a living Lord, reigning and ruling. Christ
crucified, buried, and risen again. There is no gospel if
Christ didn't rise. If there's a tomb over there
with the bones of Jesus of Nazareth, what we're doing here is absolutely
useless. It's vain. Let's get out of here.
Worthless time. We're the biggest fools there
ever was. But now is Christ risen. And your faith is not vain. and
we worship the living Lord. And you're about to see real
soon, some of you sooner than others, Ed, are about to see
your living Lord. You're about to go be with your
living Lord. That's what we look forward to. And Abraham, he's going to rise.
The sun's going to rise. I know he is. I'm going to go
worship God. We'll come back. Our Lord said
if it were not so, we would have told you. And Isaac spake, Abraham, verse
six, took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac,
his son. He took the fire in his hand
and a knife, and they went both of them together. He laid the
wood on Isaac, his son. You know what this represents.
How that God laid on Jesus Christ the iniquity of us all. that
he bore the sin of all of God's people on Calvary's tree, and
he put it away. Isaac was a scrapping young man. Isaac's about 18 or 20 years
old here. He's able to bear the weight
of that wood, isn't he? He's able to do that. And our
Lord is able. And he did it. He bore our sins
on Calvary's tree and bore them away. There's an old song that
I used to like as a young man, and now I realize how wrong it
is. But it went something like this. The cross became so heavy
that he fell beneath the load. Well, nowhere in this Bible does
it say that. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not fall beneath that load. Scripture says he shall not fail.
Whatever the Lord set out to do, he did it. Whatever God put
on his shoulders, he carried it all the way. The only reason
that he had them take that cross off of him and put it on Simon
the Cyrene is a picture of how every believer is going to take
up his cross and bear it. But Simon didn't help him out. He didn't need help, and we don't
help him. We're going to bear the cross of Christ. We're going
to confess him in baptism, crucified with Christ. Simon didn't hang
on that cross, it's ironic. Jesus Christ did. He hung on
there for Simon. We don't help him out. Salvation's
of the Lord. He bore it all. Took it all away. And it says that Abraham took
the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together.
That's a picture of our God who's a consuming fire and the wrath
of God. Our God is holy. If you ask the average person
out there, Give me the chief attribute of God. You know what
they would say, don't you? Love. Love. You can't explain death
by the love of God. You can't explain hell by the
love of God. But now by the holiness of God
you can. The wrath of God you can. Our God is a consuming fire. God will punish sin. God must
punish sin. God is just. God must punish
sin. He must be just and punish sin. He will. He will by no means
clear the guilty. Isn't that right? See, there
is no gospel without just and justifier, is there? There is
no gospel without guilty soul. If we're not guilty, if God just
loves us and sweeps everything under the rug, Jesus Christ didn't
need to die. What it took to put away our
sins was nothing more and nothing less than the death of God's
Son. Right? True story. Back in the 15th
century in Galway County, Ireland, there was a mayor of that town
named James. It was named after him later
on. Lynch was his name, in Galloway
County, Ireland. James Lynch. And he was the mayor
of that town. He had a son named Walter. His
only son. He loved that son. And the townspeople
loved Mayor Lynch and they loved his son, Walter. Okay? Well, Walter's son, James' son,
Walter, had a girlfriend and he came home one day or came
to her house and found her with another man. And Walter killed
that man in cold blood. Well, the law apprehended him
and put him in jail. This is a true story. And the townspeople loved their
Lord Mayor so much, and they loved his son, Walter, so much
that they couldn't bring themselves to hang him. The offense was
hanging, death by hanging. They couldn't bring themselves
to do it, and they wouldn't do it. Well, one morning, they heard
the bell ringing up at the house where Mr. Lentz, the mayor, lived. They heard the bell ringing in
his house. He's ringing the bell for all the townspeople to come
up to his house. And he lived up on the hill where
they all showed up and they all gathered and looked and lo and
behold, up on the top floor of the house where he lived, he's
standing there and he has his son Walter standing there bound
with a rope around his neck. and the rope around over the
rafters and the mayor has his hand in the rope. And he said to everyone, no one
is above the law, not even my son. God killed, will God punish sin? Yes, he will. Christ was made
sin. Not for everybody, but for some
people. And this is a justice of God.
I love this, don't you? If Christ bore my sin, I'm not
going to bury him. Justice has been satisfied. But
if Christ is not someone's substitute, that soul is going to die. True
story. Well, they're walking up that
mountain, and Isaac, now while they're walking up on that mountain,
something else is happening. Yes, this is happening. It's
not written here, but it is happening. They're walking up on that mountain,
and down in the valley, there's a sheepfold. And in that sheepfold,
there's some sheep, and there's one particular sheep, a young
male of the first year, without spot, without blemish, beautiful
ram, loved and admired by the shepherd of the sheep. And before
dawn, an unseen hand opens that door to that sheepfold and that
ram walks out of that sheepfold and an unseen hand closes that
gate And that ram walks out of there and starts walking up Mount
Moriah. Yeah, it's happening. And walks
up Mount Moriah, all the way to the top there, and sticks
his head in a thorn bush. And he's caught by his horns
with a crown of thorns. And he's waiting to die. It really happened. Long before
Abraham and Isaac got up on that mountain, there's a substitute
waiting to die for Isaac. Christ is the lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. That really happened. Observed
not only when he lived here, but all Abraham, all of them,
they observed that Christ is coming, prepared by God before
the world again. I'll read on later. Isaac, now
these are the first recorded words of Isaac in the Bible.
The very first words. Isaac spake unto Abraham his
father and said, my father, my father. Do you remember what Christ said
before he went to Calvary's tree? Do you remember what he said
in the garden? Do you remember that prayer? Do you remember the first words
out of his mouth? Father. First word. My father, he said,
in verse 7, and he said, here am I, my son. He said, behold
the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
Behold the fire and the wood, where is the lamb? Now, Isaac
knew what few people in the world know. Our children know this. Our children are taught this
from little children. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sin. Exodus 12 says every man must
have a lamb. And there's only one Lamb of
God, and it's Jesus Christ. Where's the Lamb? Don't you wish
more people would ask that? That sit in their services and
have a man stand up and start preaching? Don't you wish more
people would ask, where's the Lamb here? We can't worship God
without a Lamb. But if you come in this place,
you're going to quickly hear about the Lamb, aren't you? Is
that right? You can't worship God without a Lamb. That's what
Isaac knew. Where's the Lamb? And these words.
Oh, what a verse this is. Look at it with me. It said,
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offer. My son, God will provide. That's what this whole story
is about. Jehovah Jireh. God will provide what God requires. God will provide. Christ is a
provided sacrifice. God will provide himself. God
provided a lamb for himself to satisfy his justice. God will
provide him himself the lamb. God was in Christ. Reconciling
the world unto himself. God was manifested in that land. Jesus Christ is God. So they went, both of them together.
And they came to the place which God told him of. And Abraham
built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac
his son. Our Lord Jesus Christ was bound
by the law, wasn't he? Bound by. He was bound by love. That's what held him to the cross,
not those nails. Bound by the law, bound by the purpose of
God, the covenant, bound by the word of God, bound by his love
to his people, but the Father bound them. Pleased the Lord
to bruise them. And put him on that altar. And
Abraham stretched forth his hand with that knife and took that
knife to slay his son. Now he was gonna do it. The angel of the Lord called
unto him. You know, when God calls us by
the gospel, you know what the gospel says to us? The gospel
says, delivery. Hold on. Don't lay a hand on
my son. Don't lay a hand on my child. I found a ransom. I found a substitute. There's one in the stand up prepared
for us. Abraham, Abraham, he said, here
am I. He said, lay not thine hand upon the lad. God will not,
his wrath won't fall on his people to have a substitute in Christ.
His justice won't fall on his people. It fell on Christ. Neither
do anything unto him. Don't do anything. Don't touch
him. There's no condemnation of them
that are in Christ. Now I know, he said, that you
fear God. See, and you have not withheld
your son, your only son. And Abraham, verse 13, here's
salvation, people. Abraham lifted up his eyes and
looked. Didn't God say it, Isaiah? Look unto me and be you saved.
Look, he looked, and what he saw was a ram caught in a thicket
by his horn, prepared before he got there. There all along,
and he didn't know it. It was there all along, and he
didn't know it. And Abraham, I know he cut Isaac off. Look, Isaac, there's your salvation. And both of them went together.
You know they did, John. Both of them went together. And
what did they do? Did they timidly and meekly come on little lamb?
They laid hold of him. Laid hold of the horns of that
ram. Because that's Isaac's salvation.
And Abraham's life was bound up in that land, too. And he
laid hold of him, too. And brethren, this gospel, we
hold on to it for dear life, don't we? We buy the truth and
we won't sell it for anything or anyone. We won't trade it
for anybody or anything. This is our life. We've got to have
it. We've got to hear it. Tell me again about my substitute.
Tell me again. About the lamb's life. Tell me
again. In the stead of. Substitution. I don't think it's
in the Bible. Is the word substitution? I don't
think so. Right here it is. In the stead of. In the room
of. In the place of. He offered that
lamb in the place of his son. And that's the gospel in three
words. In the, four. In the stead of. Christ crucified. Our substitution. Substitution and satisfaction. And he called that place Jehovah-Jireh. That's said today. That's what
I'm saying tonight. Salvation is a salvation accomplished
by Jesus Christ. One that God purposed before
the world began. One that God provided for his
people. Salvation is Jesus Christ dying in the stead of his people. Jehovah-Jireh. That's his name
and that's the gospel. Now that's not the end of the
story. Okay, Isaac is released. He's released. It's just the
beginning. You see, there's going to be
a seed as the stars of the sky and as the sands of the seashore,
isn't it? A people which no man can number
come out of this Isaac. Look at it. You've never seen
that. You know, the half haven't been told. I didn't tell the
half. Nobody has. We preach in part. We know in
part. Maybe you haven't seen it. All right, they're walking
down the hill. Look down at verse 20. They're
walking down the hill and they get back, and they come back
and it came to pass after these things, they told Abraham, saying,
behold, Milcah, that's one of his relatives, she hath born
children under your brother Nahum, the sister-in-law. He has a son,
he had a son named Huz, his firstborn, Buz, his brother, and Camul,
and father Aram, and Chesed, and Hazel, and Pildad. I'm sure
glad we got names like Tom and John, Don't you, Ed? Don't you, Bill? Jidlap and Pildash and Bethul,
and verse 23 says, Bethul begat Rebekah. One female is mentioned. Why
is that? That's Isaac's bride. That's Isaac's future wife. that
is betrothed to him. While the son was being sacrificed,
the bride was being born. Maybe he didn't hear that. While
the son is being sacrificed, his bride is being born. But
he can't die, Debbie. He's got to live. Why? She's
waiting on him. They're going to have children.
And out of that children is going to come Jesus Christ. Who wrote this book? Nobody could
have written it but our Lord did. And you know what it's about?
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. May the Lord bless His Word.