Would you turn with me to Hebrews
chapter 11? We don't know who wrote the book
of Hebrews. We know God wrote it, but we're
not given the author. And this is God the Holy Spirit's
comment on Abraham offering his own son. Abraham could well be said to
be the most significant man other than the Lord Jesus Christ in
the Bible. Children of God are called the
children of Abraham. He's called the father of the
faithful. And he is most well known, I
believe, by the world for this story of him offering up his
own son. Hebrews chapter 11, I've entitled
this message, Faith, Knowledge, and Works. Faith, Knowledge, and Works. Verse 17, By faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up
Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only
begotten son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy
seed be called a county, that God was able to raise him up,
even from the dead. From whence also he received
him in a figure. And we're going to get into Genesis
22 momentarily, but before us is what I believe to be the most
simple illustration of the gospel in the Old Testament. We learn
best by illustration. And we also have the most simple
definition of faith in all the gospels. Now that's exciting,
isn't it? To have the gospel brought to
us in this story. and to understand something about
what faith is. This is the story of Abraham
offering up Isaac to God as a burnt offering in obedience to God's
command. Now somebody might think, what
kind of God would make a command like that in the first place?
To offer up your son? You've thought that. I've thought
that. And when we think things like
that, we're sitting in judgment on God. And that is not a good
place to be. I don't want to sit in judgment
on God. He's revealed himself in this word, the inspired, infallible
word of God. And I want to bow to what he
says, whether I understand it or not. God commanded Abraham
to offer up his only son as a burnt offering to him. And if God commanded
it, it's the right thing to do. We trust him implicitly. What he says is right. I love what David said. I esteem
all thy precepts in all things to be right. and I hate every
false way. Now, notice in verse 17, it says,
by faith, Abraham. You read Hebrews chapter 11,
how many of these verses start with by faith? By faith, Abraham. This was an act of faith, and
it was not blind faith. It was based upon what God said
to him. Faith is not blind. Faith is
not a blind leap into the dark. Faith is believing what God has
said in his word. By faith, Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac, his only begotten son, and he
that had received the promises. You see, this is, he'd already
been given something. God gave him some promises. and
he believed them. And he that received the promises
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 from the dead. Now, that word accounting, it's
the same word that's generally translated imputing. Imputing,
and if you wanna understand what the Bible means by this word,
imputation. You can get some light in it
from this passage of scripture. It's the same scripture where
Abraham had righteousness imputed to him by God. It's the same
word. Quite often when religious people think of God imputing
something, they say, well, you're sinful, but he imputes righteousness
to you and he counts you righteous. Now, what would we think of a
judge? who had a guilty person stand
before him and said, well, I'm a loving judge and a forgiving
judge. I'm going to count you righteous. You know what we'd
do? We'd get rid of that judge, wouldn't
we? He would be unjust. He would be dishonest. When God
imputes righteousness to somebody, it's because they are, in fact,
righteous. That's why He imputes righteousness
to them. And that's what the Lord Jesus
accomplished on Calvary's tree. He actually made my sin to not
me, and He made me righteous. When God imputes righteousness
to me, He imputes righteousness to me because I am, in fact,
righteous, truly. He made me righteous. If I'm a believer, God doesn't
treat me as if I were righteous. I am altogether righteous, having
the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ as my personal
righteousness before God. I love this word. Imputing. Accounting. Accounting that God imputing
that God, he believed God as he is revealed in his word. He
believed God's promise. He believed God was unable to
lie. Whatever he said must take place. He believed that. You know why
he believed it? Because he knew God. If you know God, you'll believe
God. He knew God. God revealed himself
to him. He knew him. And because of that,
he believed he would keep his promise. He cannot lie. And he believed that God was
able to raise his son from the dead. Now, when we believe God,
we believe he can do what no man can do. Think of how helpless
you would be if somebody died. You couldn't say, rise from the
dead. God can. He does. He gives dead
sinners life. He gave his son life. And Abraham
believed that God was able to raise him up from the dead, from
whence also he received him in a figure. What that means is
when Abraham heard God say, kill my son, kill your son, he already
did it in his mind. And when he was given that substitute
ram, he received him from the dead. He was already dead in
his mind. And when he found out about that substitute ram, he
knew it would be. Faith and knowledge and works,
they all go together. If you know God, you believe
God. Your works will prove you believe
God. Now, I'm not talking about you
look at your good works and think, well, I must be saved. That's
not what that is saying at all. People mess up James chapter
two so bad, justified by faith and works, and they have no idea
as to what it meant. What proved Abraham believed
God? When he offered up his son. What
if he would have said, I can't do that? If I do that, that'll
mess up God's purpose. That'll mess up God's promise. And God's promise won't take
place if I kill it. All he would prove by that is
he didn't really believe God. But he believed God. He believed
that God was able to raise his son up from the dead. We're gonna
see that so clearly in this passage of scripture. Because Abraham
knew God, he knew he would be true to his word, He knew the
promised seed would come through Isaac, that's what God had promised.
And when God said, kill your son, he knew God would raise
him from the dead. Look what verse 19 says, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence
also he received him in a figure. Now before we get into Genesis
22, I'd like you to turn to James chapter two. Would you turn with
me there, James chapter two. Verse 14, what doth it profit,
my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Now is that talking about salvations
by faith and works? No, no. But what is it saying? Let's
go on reading. If a brother or sister be naked and destitute
of daily food, and one of you say unto them, depart in peace,
be ye warm and filled, notwithstanding you give them not those things
which are needful to the body, what does it profit? I think
that's such a poignant example. Somebody comes on into my front
porch, knocks on the door, they're cold, they're hungry, and I say
to them, be filled. Be warm, and then I close the
door in their face. What does that mean? Even so, faith, if it hath not
works, is dead. Being alone, just like when I
said be warmed and filled, it's dead when I close the door in
his face, isn't it? Yea, a man may say thou hast faith, I have
works. Show me thy faith without thy
works, and I'll show thee my faith by my works. Thou believest there's one God,
thou doest well. The devils also believe and tremble.
But with thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead.
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac,
his son, upon the altar. What proved Abraham really believed
God? He offered up his son. He knew
that God would raise him from the dead. Now, if he would have
said, I can't do that. That'll mess up God's purpose.
All he would be proving by that is he didn't believe the character
of God. He didn't believe in the truthfulness of God. He thought
God would have to have his help. Go back into Genesis 16. I'm
not asking you to turn there, but let me tell you the story.
God had already made this promise. The promise is gonna come through
your seed. They've been waiting for 20 some
years, and Sarah comes up with an idea. Obviously, the Lord
is not going to do this through me, even though he promised he
would, but we need to make sure we do what we need to do for
his promise to come to pass. Here's Hagar. This is the way
God will answer his promise. We need to help him out. His
promise won't help out. It won't come to pass unless
we do our part. Here's Hagar. Go into her. Abraham
did. We have Ishmael. Ishmael's never
acknowledged as a son. Ishmael, as a matter of fact,
represents the law. Man doing his part. You can read
about it in Galatians chapter four. He represents Hagar, represents
Mount Sinai, man doing his part. If any aspect of my salvation
is dependent upon me doing my part, then salvation is by works
and I will not be saved. That's the truth. Now would you
turn with me to Genesis chapter 22, verse one. And it came to pass after these
things. What things? Everything Abraham
had experienced up to this point. Abraham was an old man at this
time. And this is when he's going to
be faced with his greatest trial. after these things that God did
tempt Abraham. God's the one who did this. He's
putting him to the test. And my dear friend, you and I
are going to be put to the test. Not for God's information. He
already knows. But for our information, we will
be put to the test. God did tempt Abraham and said
unto him, Abraham. And you know, I bet Abraham winced
when he heard his name called out. Every time God said Abraham,
something very severe was getting ready to take place. A great
trial was getting ready to take place. And I bet when he heard
his voice, he tightened up, what now? What now? And he said, behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son. Isaac. Whom thou lovest. Now what a trial. Take now your
son, your only son. I want us to notice that Ishmael
is not recognized as a son by God. He says with regard to Isaac,
take now your son, your only son. Now remember, Ishmael represents
the law. That's what Galatians chapter
four tells us. Hagar represents the law. And let me tell you two things
the law can never do. Number one, the law can never
produce a son. Only grace can. And number two,
the law can never produce love. If you're under law, you'll never
love God. You'll resent him, you'll be
scared of him, but you can never do anything out of love unless
your debt is completely put away and God completely accepts you
for Christ's sake and you see that, you'll never love him.
You'll just secretly resent him. The law can never produce a son,
and the law can never produce or cause love. Take now your
son, Isaac, Israel's not acknowledged as his son, your only son, whom
thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah. Do you know
that the temple was built on this mountain? Jerusalem had not yet come into
existence the way it would. This is where the temple would
be built, where Abraham offered up his only son. 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." Now involved in this
was killing, quartering, and burning his son. Put yourself in his position. Your only child that you love,
slit in their throat, letting the blood run out, cutting them
up, and setting them on fire. Somebody says, I could never
do that. You could if God gave you the
grace to. Only if God gave you the grace to. You couldn't do
it. Now, someone is thinking, I just don't
know even if God gave me the grace to if I could do that.
Well, if you knew God would raise him from the dead. Look in verse five, we'll get
back there in a minute. And Abraham said unto his young
men, abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship. And what next? And come again
to you. He knew that after he killed
his son, God would raise him from the dead. Abraham had the knowledge of
God that always accompanies faith. He knew God would be true to
his word. He knew God would raise the Messiah up through Isaac.
God had promised that. God cannot lie. And he knew God
had the ability to raise his son from the dead. Do you believe
that? Do you believe that? Abraham
did. Verse three. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning. This wasn't a delayed obedience. I can see where Abraham would
maybe get up late to hope something would happen, where things would
change, but no, he rose up early in the morning in obedience to
what God said. He 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. You see, in Abraham's mind, the
deed had already been done. As soon as God said, offer up
your son, In his mind, it was done. And I think the three days
refers to the resurrection of Christ after three days. But
in his mind, he'd already offered him up. Three days later, he
was going to be raised from the dead. Then on the third day,
verse four, then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes
and saw the place afar off. Now can you imagine the pain
that must have been in Abraham's heart when he saw that place
he was going to put his son to death. What pain he must have
felt and experienced. The third day Abraham lifted
up his eyes and saw the place afar off. You know something
I feel quite sure, Abraham never told Sarah about what he's gonna
do. Verse five. And Abraham said
unto his young men, these two young servants, abide ye here
with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and
come again to you. You stay here. I and Isaac were
going to go up the mountain and worship. Now, why did he leave
these young men behind? I can think of two reasons. Number
one, because he knew they'd try to prevent it. If they saw him
getting ready to kill Isaac, they would have done everything
they could to stop that from happening. And who would blame
them? He would think, this guy's crazy. What's he doing? God didn't
tell him that. They wouldn't believe him. And
this is also something that It involved Abraham and Isaac only. The cross was a transaction between
the Father and the Son. That's why God turned the lights
out so that nobody could really see what was going on. This was a transaction between
the Father and the Son. Man was shut out. That's why
darkness covered the earth while Christ was hanging on the cross.
The whole earth was covered with darkness as God poured His wrath
out upon His Son. As the Son of God was actually
bearing the sins of His people and made sin while He was still
alive, experiencing all that. Me and you will never understand
that. We can't see it. We believe, but we can't understand
the glorious, great transaction between the father and the son
to glorify himself and to save his people from their sins. But notice this, Abraham said unto his young men,
abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship. Worship. Now here is worship. If you want to know what worship
is, here it is. It's not some vague concept.
Now I've heard people say Abraham's act of obedience was worship. The worship is the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you worship God, here's
worship, you look to Christ and His sacrifice only. Anything else is disrespect to
God, is dishonoring to God. The only way we worship is to
look to Christ and His sacrifice only. Now that is why the Apostle
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, I have determined not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The cross of the Lord Jesus Christ
is everything in God's salvation. Paul said, I'm not going to preach
anything else. I like what Charles Spurgeon said. He said, if we
confined our preaching to nothing but the cross, it would be a
widening rather than a narrowing of our ministry. He worshiped
by looking to the sacrifice. That's what worship is. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship, sacrifice, and come again to you. He knew that they
would return. Isn't that amazing? He had no
doubt that they would return because he believed God. He believed
God could not lie. God had promised the Messiah,
the Savior, is going to come through Isaac. He knew he would
because God said it. Isn't that what faith is? It's
knowing who he is. Listen real carefully. Faith
is knowing who he is, believing what he says, and trusting what
he's done. That is faith. Faith in knowing
you're saved. That's what most people think,
well, I know I'm saved. Now just forget about you for just a moment.
Forget about, do you know who he is? He's the son of God. He's
the Creator. He's the Sovereign of the Universe.
And because you know who He is, you believe what He said. He's
incapable of lying. And you trust what He has done
only. That's everything in your salvation.
Abraham believed God. 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 and a knife, and they went both
of them together. And you remember another time
when someone carried the wood of their own execution up a mountain. This typifies the Lord Jesus
Christ. bearing the wood that was to
be used for his own execution up Calvary's mountain. Verse seven. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father. Now, he had not yet told him
what he was going to do. And Isaac had been instructed,
there's no way God can be approached apart from a lamb being slain,
which points to the coming lamb of God. You can be sure he explained
that to him. And so Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father and said, my father, and I'm sure there was a lot of pain
with Abraham just when he heard that. My father, he said, here am I,
my son. He said, behold, the fire and
the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? You know, this question should
be asked with regard to every message we hear and every song
we sing. Where is the lamb? If the lamb's
not there, the truth's not there, the gospel's not there. Where
is the lamb? And I'm sure that cut through
his very heart when he said that to his father. Can you imagine
how Abraham felt? Where is the lamb? For the burnt
offering, they had the wood, they had the fire, but they didn't
have the lamb. In preaching, you can have the wood of, I guess,
doctrine. You can have the fire and the
heat and enthusiasm and still not have the lamb. Where's the
lamb? That's the one issue. Where is
the lamb? Verse eight. And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. My son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. Here is the gospel. There's nothing me or you could
provide to God that He would accept. There's not one thing
you or I can bring to the table. Not one. God couldn't accept
it. He's holy. He's righteous. He's
just. You're going to say you could bring something that came
from you, as defiled as you are, as defiled as I am, and God could
accept it? No. But here's the gospel. God
provides what He requires. Not you. Aren't you thankful? God provides what He requires. God will provide for Himself. Now for God to do something for
me or you, He has to first do something for Himself. You see,
His character is not going to be violated. His justice is not
going to be violated. His attributes are not going
to be violated. He's not going to do something
that calls into question His perfect righteousness and His
justice. So for Him to do something for
me, He had to first do something for Himself. You see, the blood
is not so much for you, it's for God. For God to be able to
accept you. The Lamb of God's gonna have
to die for you, and he's the one who gives the Lamb. And listen
to this. God himself is the Lamb that
God provides. The Lamb of God is God the Lamb. God will provide himself a Lamb
for a burnt offering. Now, he didn't yet tell Isaac
that, I'm gonna kill you. But he did say this. God will
provide the lamb. So they went, both of them, together. And they came to the place, verse
nine, 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." Now, Isaac was a young
man. Abraham was an old man. And I have no doubt that Isaac
could have overcome his father and prevented this from happening.
But his father said to him, Isaac, God told me to do this. It must
be done. And God is going to raise you
from the dead after it's done. So even as I'm getting ready
to kill you and you see the knife going up to plunge through you,
know this, I'm doing this in obedience to God. And God has
promised He would raise you from the dead. And you know Abraham
believed what his father said. I have no doubt that Abraham
let his father bind him, let his father put him on that altar,
and he knew what was going to happen, which speaks of the Lord
Jesus Christ willingly laying his life down for his people,
for the glory of his father, and for the salvation of his
people. He said, no man takes my life from me. I'm not a victim. I love it when they came to arrest
the Lord. He said, whom seek ye? They said,
Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I am. And they fell
backward. The Lord's letting them know,
I'm in control of this. You're only doing my will. Don't
think I'm a victim. I'm in control of all of this.
And the Lord Jesus Christ was in control of everything when
this was taking place. But he willingly did this. He willingly laid down in his
life. They said, I have power to lay
it down. I have power to take it up. This
commandment have I received of my father. So I love to think
of Isaac willingly letting his father tie him up. And there he is laying on the
altar of the wood put in order by Abraham. And you think of
Abraham lifting up his knife to slay his son. Look in verse
10. And Abraham stretched forth his knife and took the knife
to slay his son. Oh, the pain he must have felt. Do you think it was easy for
God to slay his son? I don't understand that. It was the Lord who said through
the pen of Job, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Abraham stretched forth his hand
and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the Lord,
the Lord Jesus Christ, 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
knowest that thou fearest God. Seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thy only son for me. Now, what is the fear of God? You fear God. You fear God when you're afraid
to look anywhere but Christ alone. That's the fear of God. You're
afraid to look anywhere but Christ alone. His sacrifice alone. That's the fear of God. If you
would come into God's presence in something other than Christ
only, you don't have any fear of God. You don't have any respect
for God. You dishonor God. And God doesn't
respect you if you come some other way than Christ. But I
love the way the scripture speaks of Abel. It says, God had respect
unto Abel and his offering. You come into God's presence
only through the blood of Christ. You can't be separated from the
offering. God had respect to Abel and his offering. And He
had respect to Abraham and his offering. And if I come into
God's presence only through Christ, He has respect to me. That's
incredible to think about, isn't it? God respecting you. through
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every believer possesses that.
And this is the way Abraham came. He said, lay not thy hand upon
the land, neither do thou anything to me, for now I know thou fearest
God. That is such a, the fear of God. The fear of God is faith in Christ.
Same thing. Same thing. The person who fears
God is the person who looks to Christ only. And that's what
Abraham did. Verse 13, and Abraham lifted up his eyes. Isn't faith looking to Christ? Look unto me and be ye saved,
all ye ends of the earth. Look unto me. Children of Israel
called upon to do with that brazen serpent. Look. Look. Not do. Not work. Look. Looking unto Jesus, the
author and the finisher of our faith. Abraham looked. He looked. And behold, behind him, behind
him, a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. Now, somehow in God's providence,
I guess this ram over on the other side of the mountain got
out of his pen. He must have already been there.
Abraham didn't see him. But he looked behind him. He looked behind him. This is
very significant. Salvation is behind you. It's already done. It's not something out here for
you to do. Quit thinking that way. It's not something for you
to do. It's already been done. It was behind him, the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. behind him. And the fact that
this lamb was caught in the thicket by his horns, that prefigures
the thorny crown of the Lord Jesus Christ. A lamb caught in
the thicket by his horns, the ram. And Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram." Here's substitution. Here's substitution. The only
way you and I can be saved is by Christ being my substitute
and taking my place. He took the ram and offered him
up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. There was a missionary, I don't
know where it was, but he was trying to see if the people understood
what he was saying to them. And it was a different language,
I don't know how, I don't even know what language it was, but
this is true. He asked one of the people he'd been trying to
preach to, he said, do you understand what I'm saying? He replied this,
he die or me die. He died, me no die. The simplicity
of the gospel. He took my place. You see, I deserve to be damned eternally by my
sin. And it's all my fault. I hope you believe that. If you've
never believed it before, believe it now. You deserve to go to
hell. I deserve to go to hell and be
eternally separated from God. Jesus Christ willingly took my
place. He bore my sin. Listen to this scripture, 2 Corinthians
5.21 says, for he hath made him to be sin. What all that means, I don't
know, but somehow God has the authority and the power and the
ability to take my sin away from me and give it to his son so
that his son is guilty of sin. The sins that I've committed,
they become his. And God poured his wrath. He bore the full equivalent
of hell. And because He did that, He hath
made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin. He never sinned
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Verse 14, And Abraham called
the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh. As it said to this day in the
mountain of the Lord, it shall be seen, the Lord will see to
it, the Lord will provide. What that means, the Lord provides.
The Lord provides. Now I want to close by looking
at a passage in John chapter eight. Verse 52. John chapter eight, verse 52.
Then said the Jews unto him, now we know that thou hast a
devil, Abraham is dead, and the prophets. And thou sayest, if
a man keep my saying, he shall never taste of death. Art thou
greater than our father Abraham, which is dead, and the prophets
are dead? Whom makest thou thyself? Jesus
answered, if I honor myself, my honor is nothing. It is my
father. then honoreth me of whom you
say that he's your God, yet you've not known him, but I know him. And if I should say I know him
not, I shall be a liar, like you are, but I know him. And keep his saying, your father
Abraham rejoiced to see my day." Now, how many times did the Lord
refer to my hour and my time and my day? I have no doubt that
the Lord is referring to this of which we've just read. He
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews unto him,
thou art not yet 50 years old, hast thou seen Abraham? And he
said unto them, verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham
was, I am. Then took they up the stones
to cast at him. Now Abraham rejoiced to see this
day. You know somebody else who rejoiced?
Isaac. Isaac. I can love to think of
them going down that mountain. I bet they were floating down
in joy at the substitutionary sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. That, my friends, is the gospel.