You may be seated. Thank you,
Sherry, that's good. I'm thankful for our piano player. Genesis 22. Genesis 22, this
is the story of Jehovah Jacob. Not the story so much of Abraham's
faith, but of the one who provided him. with that name. Jehovah-Jireh,
our God will provide. Read with me again, verses 1
and 2. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt, the word is try, Abraham, and said
unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And God 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. It just really struck me how
that must have sounded to Abraham. Abraham was 120 years
old at this time. Surely his troubles are over. No. After these things. Fifty years Abraham had been
walking with his God. Fifty years, enduring trials.
Read his life. Abraham endured difficult trials. Abraham didn't have a house. They never lived in a house. They lived in a tent for fifty years. Enduring trials,
but the toughest one was now. The toughest one yet. But now,
as before, so it is now, Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide grace to get
through it. This is the story of Jehovah.
who provides all we need and the one thing needful. This is
the story of how God provides that one thing above all things,
that unspeakable gift, that one thing needful, a substitute. And everything else goes with it. Our greatest need. That's the
story within the story. The Lord Jesus Christ, God's
provided substitute. for his people. That's the story
here, how God provided his son. All right, he said, take your
only son as a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten
well-beloved son of the Most High God whom he took, whom he
sent as a burnt offering for his people. Verses 3 and 4, Abraham
rose early. He rose up early in the morning. Abraham's a believer. You know, the flesh would have
wanted to tarry. Let's put this thing off. No, he rose up early. He believed
his God. He rose up early. He trusts God. He does not understand. People, he does not understand
this. Abraham does not understand this,
what God just told him to do. How could he? God tell him to
kill his son? God never done this before. You
know all that's running through his fleshly mind. What's the
heathen world going to say? He doesn't understand this, but
he believes God. He trusts God. He trusts God.
That means he trusts God. I don't understand, Lord. I do
not understand this, he thought, but nevertheless, at thy word. I trust you, too good to do evil,
too wise to do wrong, too merciful to be unkind. He rose early. He got up early, split the wood
which would burn his son's body, got the rope which he had tied
his precious hands behind his back, whet the knife. He wanted it sharp. He wanted
it to be quick. Whet the knife, he would plunge
in his heart. Well, that's faith, isn't it? Who has such a thing? What human
being has such a thing by nature? No. This is the working of his
mighty power, isn't it? His only son. That he staggered
not. The scripture says he staggered
not of unbelief. Gave glory to God, believing
in what God had promised he was able also to perform. And Hebrews
11 says this, he believed God was able to raise him from the
dead. That's what he thought. That's
the conclusion he came to. I'm going to kill him, but God
said in thy son, God somehow is going to raise him from the
dead. Yes, God is going to raise the only begotten son from the
dead. But it's not going to be yours.
It's going to be his. You're not going
to have to kill yours. He doesn't know that yet. But
you're going to have to be willing to sacrifice him that which is
the dearest thing to your heart. Amen. Without a doubt, Abraham was
troubled, wasn't he? Troubled, but not distressed. Without a doubt, Abraham was
perplexed, but not in despair. I don't understand it. He believed God. Oh, for the faith of Abraham.
Third day. This was a three-day journey. It wasn't a four-hour trip. It
was a long, arduous, by-foot journey. A difficult journey of looking at and watching his
beloved son for three days. Seemed like a lifetime. He didn't
sleep at night, I guarantee you. He laid awake and looked at that
boy. I said, boy, Isaac at this time
was at least 18 or 20 years old. Young man, apple of his eye,
joy of his heart. He didn't sleep much. Nevertheless,
he walked by faith. He kept walking toward that mountain.
Kept walking. Isaac would wake up from a perfectly
good rest, sleep, Abraham, fitful sleep. Oh, what a picture! Our
Lord, it is said, did not sleep for three days prior to Calvary's
tree. He did not eat anything for the burden that was on him. My, my. A man of sorrow is acquainted
with grief. On the third day, it says in
verse 4, On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the
place afar off. He saw it in a little further
distance. They'd come three days' journey,
and now they saw the mountain in Moriah. And as I said, there
was much time to reflect, there was much time to meditate on
God's Word, God's promise, God's purpose. And I believe, though,
although he was troubled at first. As the day went on, as he began
to reflect on God's Word, three days God gave him to remember
all that God had been saying to him. And that's the only place,
the only place, the only place he could find any help, any comfort. Where's he going to get it? No,
he can't discuss it with his wife. Honey, I've got to go.
What do you think about that? Oh no, no, you're not going to
do that. God didn't tell her to do it.
Where's he going to get his comfort? Where's he going to get his peace?
Where's he going to get his answer? For three days, he's reflecting
on God's word, God's blessed promises. His oath, his covenant,
God's sure and blessed promises which cannot fail. He's reflecting. That's where he's getting his
strength to take a foot and try the next one. Where's he going to get the strength
and the faith? The word of God, the everlasting promises on which
he stands. My hope, he said, is built long
before it was ever written. He said, my hope is built on
nothing less. I dare not trust, I dare not
mistrust. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, I dare not mistrust God's Word, or I'll despair, I'll fall
into despair and I won't do this thing. God said, and therefore. On the third day, he meditated
and reflected, believing God. He believed God. God said in
Isaac, thy seed shall be called, didn't he? God can't lie. Isaac's the one. He's the one.
Abraham's going to kill him, but Isaac's the one. God was able. How? How? I don't know, Abraham said, but
he's able. He's God. I don't know. I'm man. How can I kill this
boy and yet still get to see the stars from him? I don't know. With man, that would be impossible. To raise him from the dead, and
he believed God was able to raise him from the dead, it's never
been done before, but Jehovah-Jireh. God is able. What a picture. Christ, the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world. The Scripture says, "...who for
the joy set before him endured the cross." But do you know?
We don't know. We can't enter into what a huge
burden and trial that was for our Holy Lord to be made sin. We can't enter into what it was
like for Christ to think from before the world began, and for 4,000 years for him to have
the thought of being separated from his father physically for
33 years. What if you weren't going to
see your loved one for 33 years? Have you ever thought about that? Our Lord did, from eternity past.
But it was for the joy that was set before him, the joy of saving
his people. He believed God, our Lord. What a picture. Seeing it afar
off, says Abraham Saul, far off, that place. Our Lord's eternal
purpose. Millenniums, billions, billions,
eternity past, our Lord purposed this thing of Calvary. And seeing
it afar off and purposing it and willing it, it's going to
be done. It's going to happen. seeing
it far off. He saw his seed. Christ looked toward Calvary.
I thought about this. Have you ever thought about this? Our Lord was a man, and he lived as a
creature of time. He was bound himself by time.
The God is not subject to time. A day is a thousand years, a
thousand years. But Christ, as a man, was a subject of time.
He had to wait on things to happen. He had to live by faith, receive
it later. He had to live the years out. That's what we are. The years
seem to drag at times when we're going through troubles, don't
they? When you're going through troubles, And a moment seems
like a day. A day seems like a month. A month
seems like a year. Our Lord, as a 12-year-old boy, from the cradle, our Lord was
looking toward Jerusalem. That's why he came. He came to
be put to death on that cross. That's why he came. Did you ever
think about that? As a small boy, the weight, literally,
the weight of the world is on his shoulders. And I thought about this, that
he's working in his dad's carpenter shop. I thought he was his dad,
but he's working in Joseph's carpenter shop. And he stops
a minute and looks out the window. His dad's over there working.
He notices the boy and says, son, what's on your mind? The weight of the world. John Davis. Stephen Parks. Think about that. He's not staring
at space. He's pondering. I know. You saw
it afar off. Our Lord saw Calvary's tree from
the day he was humanly cognizant of things. That's where I'm headed. Well, it serves the whole. What
a story. I wish somebody capable. Verse
6, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering. Verse 5, Abraham said unto his
young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will
go yonder and worship. Pointing up there at that mountain,
telling those two young men, I and the lad, you stay here
with the ass, and I and the lad on foot. We'll go yonder, up
there, and worship. We're going to worship. That's where we're going. And come again. You'll see us again. Come again. Abraham, through everything,
through all trials, worshipped God. Worshipped God, believed God,
worshipped God. He knew this much. Folks, he
knew this much. If we could get this, if we could
learn this one lesson, we would, the Lord would give us great
understanding in trials. Everything is to the worship
of God Almighty, to the praise of the glory of His grace. We
don't understand it. Everything is not for our temporal
happiness. Everything is not so that we
might have this or have that. Everything. As a matter of fact,
we're a very, very small part of this whole picture. We're
a part of it, but a very, very minute thread in that huge tapestry. And all things don't work together
around us. They work together for us. Worship. What's this all about?
Worship. I don't understand it. I'm going
to worship God. I am the lad. Just us. You stay
here. Who these two young men were,
we don't know. And they represent several things.
But here's the point. Abraham, the father and the son
are going to go into that mountain, and those two alone are going
to worship. The sacrifice is going to be made, and it's going
to be between those two. Nobody else is involved. Do you understand that? In the upper room, there were
twelve men with Christ. They came down from there and went
into the garden of Gethsemane. Christ took Peter, James, and
John, three young men with him, three in the garden with Christ,
praying, up Calvary's everybody forsook him, is between
God the Father and God the Son, alone, on Mount Calvary. Nobody is going to be here on
this. Nobody is going to help with the sacrifice, not even
an ass. No means. No man. Nobody. This thing, salvation
of the Lord. Salvation between God the Father
and God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is between
them, alone in so great salvation, because he's going to get all
the glory. Nobody's going to be able to say, I stood with
you. Oh no, he stood alone. He went, he had by himself purged
our sins. Verse 6. So Abraham took the
wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. The very thing that would consume
Isaac, the Father put on him. The thing which would burn up
his body, which would consume his body, the means the Father
laid on the Son. And the scripture says, God hath
laid on him, Christ, the iniquity of us all. The sins, all the
sins of all of God's people were laid on Jesus Christ. He was made sin for us, he who
knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in him. God laid on him the iniquity
of us all, and literally, Christ in every way fulfilled this prophecy
of him. He literally carried his own
cross, the instrument of his death, up that mountain. perhaps someone else started
and he said, No, I've got to carry it to fulfill scripture.
And then later he laid it on another. That's the picture above. Well, Abraham laid on him the
wood of the burnt offering, laid it upon Isaac, and it says Abraham
took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went, both
of them together. Abraham took the fire and the
knife in his hand. God laid on Christ the iniquity
of his people. All the sins of all of God's
people were laid on Christ as the substitute for his people.
And God Almighty had in his hand the fire of his divine wrath,
the knife of his divine justice against sin. And he's going to
consume the sacrifice. The Father is going to slay the
Lamb. The Father is going to burn the
sacrifice. The Father is going to accept
the sacrifice. The Father is going to raise
the Son. What he had in his hand, the
life and the fire, God's justice, holiness, wrath. Then Isaac,
all right, they're walking up this mountain. They're walking
up this mountain. And it's, you know, walking up
a long of these Virginia mountains is tough. It takes a while. After
three days' journey, then they had to walk up this mountain,
a long, difficult journey carrying wood. And they're talking. They're not doing much talking,
but Isaac is pondering what they're doing. His father taught him from a
young boy what worship is. But you cannot worship God without
one thing. There is one thing needful, and
that is the lamb, the blood of a lamb, a smitten, slain sacrifice,
blood which is typical of our death, our death. that we soul
that sinneth must surely die, typical of the substitute, an
innocent substitute of the guilty people. Isaac knew this. He knew
this. He had to have a lamb. Abraham
was slaying lambs since Isaac was a boy. He saw his dad worship
God time and time again by killing lambs. And he told the boy, from
a boy, he was telling Isaac, this is why we do this. Son,
this is why we do this. When the children, Moses said,
God said to Moses, when the children ask you, what are you doing by
this? What's the meaning of this, this blood, this land? Tell them
what it's all about. Don't go through a mysterious
ceremony and leave them in the dark. Tell them what it's all
about. And Abraham said, son, Isaac, this represents God's
Christ, God's Messiah. The holy spotless Messiah of
God, representative of God, the Christ whom God is going to send
to this earth as a man. When? I don't know, but He is. And He's going to come down here
and be our righteousness, and be our sin offering, and our
substitute. And at the hands of God's wrath,
which should be on us, at the hands of God's holiness, which
can't have anything to do with us sinful creatures, but He's
going to deal with His Christ. And he's going to pour out his
soul unto death. He's going to shed his blood.
He's going to die for our sins, if you're a believer, Isaac,
and me. I believe God, son. I believe
God you're going to be a believer someday. But it's not without
the shedding of blood. God said the blood shall make
a tomb up for your soul. Isaac, son, this represents the
Christ. Do you understand that, boy?
Yeah, Dad. Yeah. Now here they're walking up the
mountain. They've got, look at it. And Isaac asks the question
of all questions. Look at verse 7. Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father, and said, The dad's real quiet, the
father's real quiet. And he said, My father? My father. Tell for me? My father, he said,
behold, here am I, my son, my only begotten, well-beloved son,
here am I. And he said, Isaac said, Dad,
behold, there's the fire. You've got the fire in your hand
and the wood. I've got the wood on my back. Where's the lamb for a burnt offering? Dad, where's
the lamb? You said we're going to worship.
Where's the lamb? You know, this question needs
to be asked today. This is the question of all questions.
Isaac knew this, and the question needs to be asked in the midst
of all this wood, hay, and stubble today. Religion is mostly wood,
hay, and stubble. We've got our big monstrosities,
buildings, education wings, and gymnasiums, and all these wooden
structures. We've got all these programs,
we've got all this mess, you know, we've got all this. Then
we've got the fire, we've got the Holy Ghost fire, we've got
all this enthusiasm, we've got all this wildfire and stuff going
on, we've got these big buildings, and all this stuff, where's the
lamb? You can't worship God without
the lamb. Where's the Lamb? It's supposed to be in the middle
of all this. The Lamb's the subject of all this. You don't even need
fire without the Lamb. The Lamb is the center, the substance,
the hope. Everything points to the Lamb.
All our hopes are in the Lamb, not in the fire, not in the wood.
Wood can't help us. Fire can't help us. Only the
Lamb, the blood. God didn't say, when I see the
fire. God didn't say, when I see you build this huge altar. give
you all on the altar, and God said, I want to see the blood.
Where is the blood? You've got to have blood. If you don't have anything else,
you've got to have that. What a question. Oh, what an
answer. What an answer. Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself
a lamb for a barn owner. My son, God will. Listen to every word, children,
as Solomon would write my little children. or my son?" My son? God says to all his children
he teaches, and he teaches them all. He says this, son, daughter,
God will. Not God might. God will. Is he willing? God will. God will. We're here by the will of God.
You're not here by accident, you're here because God willed
it. Oh yeah, lots cast in the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is up to the Lord. Will God be
merciful to a sin? God will. Will God reveal himself? God will. God will, son, provide. God will provide. Always has, hasn't he? Abraham's 120 years old. Had to get there. Jehovah-Jireh. God will provide. He lived in tents, right? He
didn't live in a Big home, didn't drive a nice car and all that.
He traveled by foot. All the perils and the dangers
and all that. He was a stranger and a sojourner
and didn't hold down a foot. God will provide. Son, hasn't
he up to this point? Hasn't God provided our every
need? God will provide. Yes, he will. That's his name,
Jehovah Jireh. God will provide. Everything to this point is. God will provide Himself. I'll never forget when I first
heard a man open all this up, to my understanding. Joseph Scott
Lipschitz, he opened it up to all our understanding. God will
provide Himself. And that's two things. God, it's
all for Him. If this wasn't for His glory,
if you weren't for His glory, you wouldn't be existing right
now. He wouldn't put up with you another moment. It's up to
the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Why would God put
up with Adam and Eve? Why would God put up with thousands
of years of rebels? Why? It's for His glory. He's doing it for Himself. He
said, this people have I formed for myself. They will show my glory." Himself,
it's for himself. It's for him, it's through him,
it's to him, it's by him, it's because of him. It's for his
glory. Listen to this. They're splitting
hairs here. There's a huge denomination worldwide
that got there as their slogan, Offer Them Christ. Got on their bumper stickers,
got some cross with a big flaming banner around it. And their slogan
is, Offer Them Christ. That's the height of blasphemy.
Jesus Christ was offered to God, not man. He offered himself. To whom? To man to do with as
he pleased? No! To God. And God accepted. And we're only accepted. We offer
ourselves, we can't offer Christ, and God didn't offer him to us.
He was offered to God. You see that? It was for him. God is holy. He needs a holy man in order
to be just and justify his people. And a holy man whose righteousness
he can impute. A holy, sinless sacrifice who
can take the blame, and God be just, and justify us guilty sinners. Oh, the wisdom of God. For Himself. I'm not splitting hairs here. Christ wasn't offered to us.
Never has been, never will be. He's offered to God. My son, God will provide himself,
for himself, and God will provide himself a lamb. God will provide
what you need. You need a substitute. You need
a sacrifice. Isaac, we need a lamb. We need
a lamb. Oh, we need a lamb. Did you think
Abraham realized this right now? Huh? Did you think Abraham realized
this right now? I'm going to kill my boy! I need
a substitute! I don't understand this. We need
a lamb. Bad. Do you understand how that
man felt right now? Oh, but we need a lamb. We need
a substitute. Bad, bad. Worse than I've ever
needed him in my life. All those lambs we've been sacrificing.
Oh, I need one now, now more than ever. God will provide himself a lamb. God's going to be the lamb. God's going to be the lamb. I'm not sure he knew what he
was saying. Oh, he was taking hope right
here. Abraham's taking hope right here. God's going to provide
this lamb. Even up to the point, if I had to kill, I don't know,
but God's going to provide said he would, God will. Jehovah-Jireh. The tears ran down his face.
Son, he's saying this with every ounce of his being. God will
provide. God will provide. He always has. Himself. In the fullness of time,
God sent forth his Son. You get ahold of this Jeanette
Berry in the fullness of time. What? In the fullness of time.
God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
to do what? To redeem them that were under
the law. To be a substitute for His people. To be the burnt offering. To
be the sacrifice. To be offered up in the stead
of Jeanette Berry. God will provide. Yes, he will
and he did. It was done. Christ came. Christ came. God will provide himself. God
was manifest in the flesh. He feed the church of God which
he purchased with his own blood. God provided himself a lamb for
a burnt offering. God poured out his wrath on himself. God took his own punishment. I don't understand that. God
sent his son to hell for his people. Verses 9 and 10. So they came to the place which
God had told him of, and Abraham built an altar there. Oh, the
time, every rock that he put in order. Oh, my. The laborer
put in order, everything in order. Everything's ordered. He wasn't
happy, was he? and bound Isaac, his son. Oh,
Kelly, he took that rope and put his boy's hands behind his
back. Tied him tight. Bound his son and laid him on
that altar. Laid that boy, 18-year-old heavy,
big boy. Put him on that altar. Now, the
son's willing, isn't he? Here's something we can't miss.
That boy's big enough to Say no. That boy is big enough to
resist. That boy is big enough to say,
I'm not going to do that. He was willing. He was willing
for the Father to put him on that altar. And he did. He laid him on that altar upon
the wood. And Abraham Stretcher got the
knife and raised that knife. In the furthest of time, our
Lord came and actually went to Calvary's tree. It pleased the
Lord to bruise him. It pleased the Father. In him
all fullness dwells, and it pleased the Father to bruise him, to
crucify his own son on behalf of his people. And God Almighty
bound him, the law of God bound him. He was bound by an oath. Christ was bound by an oath.
His oath, his covenant must stand. He agreed to do this. He bound
himself. Christ was willing and obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. He allowed, he willed, he was
willing to be bound for the likes of us. And he went to Calvary's
tree, and nobody could have driven a nail in his hand, nobody could
have done anything. He could have called ten thousand
angels. Had he not willingly stretched forth his hand as they
drove those Jews by his hand, and laid his feet there as they
drove those natives into him, and allowed them to put that
crown of thorn on his head, he said, No man takes my life from
me. I lay it down. I lay down as a sacrifice for
my people. And so Christ hung on Calvary's
tree, willingly, and bound by the Father. And Abraham stretched
forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Here comes the gospel, the best
news Abraham had ever heard, the sweetest words he had ever
heard in his life. Abraham! The angel of the Lord
called unto him out of heaven. God called him, as if calling
from heaven. Abraham! Abraham! Did he hesitate? God's calling me. I'd better
call back! Can I?" He said, lay not thy
hand on the boy. Don't touch him. Don't do anything
to him. Don't touch, hide in the hair
of him. Don't send your hair of him. Don't draw a drop of blood. Don't do anything to him. And now I know that thou fearest
God, see, and thou hast not withheld thy Son, thine only Son, from
me." And the gospel call comes to us. The gospel call, the good
news of the gospel is, God said, there is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in crime. The justice and law of God says,
don't touch the sinner. Not hiding her hair. Don't even
let the smell of smoke be on his clothes. Don't touch him. Lay not one sin to his charge. Not one. Not one. But on a substitute. Abraham
lifted up his eyes. Verse 13, And looked, and behold, A ram, a male sheep, caught in
a thicket by his horns. Abraham went. Oh my, how do you
think he laid hold on that ram? He lifted up his eyes. Don't
kill him. Don't kill him. Don't touch him.
Don't touch him. Look behind you. Look. Look! Thy salvation is nigh. Look,
your son's salvation is here. Look out for Jehovah. Jehovah. There he is. So, how do you reckon he laid
hold? This boy's going to, this ram's
going to spare his son. This ram is going to remove all
his sorrow, all his fears, all of his troubles. All he's going
to give to this ram is, this is all his hope, all his peace,
all his comfort, all his happiness. This is life to him now. He's
as dead as this boy. Thoughts of killing him. How
do you think he laid hold of that? Oh, Jehovah. Jehovah. Laying power around his foundation,
scripture says. As bad as you need a lamb is
how you lay hold. Lay hold on the horns of the
altar, the horns of the sacrifice. He laid hold on that. And there's
an innocent ram. The ram hadn't done anything. But somebody's got to die. Somebody's
got to die. And he took a knife and slayed
his brother. And bound that ram, put it on
the altar, and burned it up in the stead of his son. Jehovah-Jireh. God provide. And it said, verse
14, he called the name of that place. What are we going to call
this place? Oh, he felt like building three tabernacles, didn't
he? Oh, we've got to remember this
place. Let's remember this, Isaac. Let's never forget this. Disdo
in remembrance of this. What are we going to call it?
It came from one thing to call it. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will
provide. The Lord will provide. And they
went skipping down the mountain. Didn't they? I know what song they were singing.
They were singing. Oh, they were singing. They were
happy. Oh, they walked up that mountain
with leaden feet, with tears in their eyes. They were bounding
down the mountain with joy and laughter, singing Jehovah-Jireh,
Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Jireh. The tune didn't matter. It's
Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah-Jireh. God's true to
his word. God hath promised and he fulfilled. And he's telling that boy, and
this is good. Stay with me a few more minutes, all right? If you've
never seen this. He's telling that boy, son, I
knew. He did. He believed God. He did. He didn't
know how, but he knew God's true. God's true. Son, I told you,
didn't I? God said He will provide. God,
Jehovah-Jireh, son, Jehovah-Jireh, remember that all your life.
Jehovah-Jireh, God will provide. He promised. And He told me that
in you. God told me that you were the
son that I was going to have. You're a miracle, son. You're
a miracle. And your mom and I didn't expect to have you. That right
there is proof of Jehovah-Jireh. God provided us you. You're proof. And God said, in you, I'll have
a seed. I'm going to have a huge family,
and God's going to somehow, is going to bless our family. Our family, my seed, is going
to spread out through the whole world, and the whole world is
going to be filled with the seed of Abraham. Amazing. And so you're the one. And so,
son, you're going to get married. I'm just as sure God is. God will provide. But, Dad, I'm
only eighteen. I ain't much interested in girls.
Well, son, you're going to have a bride. Yeah, you are. I'm certain
of that. You're going to get married.
And after a while, I don't know how many years, but you're going
to get a bride, and she's going to be a good one. And you're
going to have sons. You'll have sons. And from all
of that, somehow, God's going to send his son. So they skip
down the mountain and they go home. Now, just in passing, one
of the servants comes up, verse 20. One of the servants, after
these things, several months later, maybe even a couple of
years later, things are going on. He was told Abraham said,
I wonder how my brother Nahor is doing? I haven't seen him
in years. Old Nahor, he's over there in wherever he is. I wonder how he's doing with
Milka, his wife. We ought to go see him, Sarah.
I'll go see Nahor and Milka." And one of them said, yeah, they've
got a family. Got a big family. Bunch of children, got grandchildren. One of them is named Huz, verse
21, his firstborn, and Buz, his brother, and Camule, the father
of Aram, and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pilbeck. Like I said, I'm
glad y'all are named Joe. What's your name? Henry, Stan,
Stephen, Sam. That's easy. Chesed and Hazel
and Pildash. They all had meaning, though.
Pildash and Jidlap and Bethul, and Bethul Baguette. Abraham Bethul's got a daughter.
Rebecca is her name. One woman, one daughter mentioned. Just thought you might like to
know there's a daughter. It's interesting. I'll remember
that. Just in passing, we'll mention
Isaac's bride. He's got to live because she
lives. Because he lives. She lives. You see that? God
made that woman have a daughter named Rebecca, because there's
a son waiting for her. You've got to live. There's a
bride for him, for nobody else. Isn't that wonderful? Jehovah's
job. And we worry. People, we worry.
Abraham worried. You'll never have the worries
to the extent that I do. Really, we'll never go through
the difficulties he did, but we still have to get all our
hope and trust from where Abraham did, Jehovah Jireh. We worry
about the future, don't we? Jehovah Jireh. God will provide,
hadn't he yet until now? Hadn't he? David said, I'm young,
or I have been young, I'm now old, and I've never seen the
righteous forsaken. Those who believe, never. Nor his seed-begging
brethren. Never seen God's people without
a home. Never. Never. Never. We worry about our children.
Some people worry about having children. Oh, wouldn't you hate
to have children now? Wouldn't you hate the thoughts
of raising a child now? My daddy was born during the
Depression. Jeanette, I don't know, was your
dad in the service? Your dad's going off to war. Your mom may never see him again. Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh. Yeah, but what about my next
house payment? See, we make mountains out of
molehills. Mountains out of molehills. Jehovah-Jireh. Abraham didn't
have a house. He didn't know where he was going.
He did not know where he was going. Jehovah-Jireh. He knew who he was going with.
God will provide. God will provide. Well, I took
too long, but remember that. Jehovah, Jireh. Lay all your
hope, all your trust right there, and live your life. Go ahead.
Live your life as if God will do everything for you. He will. All right. Number 30, hymn number
30. Hymn number 30. David writes in Psalm 103, O
forget not all his benefits, who daily loathe the blessings. Don't forget Jehovah John.