Some good words there. Standing on the promises of Christ my
King, standing on the promises that cannot fail, and the howling
storms of doubt and fear assail, by the living Word of God I shall
prevail." That's a good word. Genesis 22 now. Genesis chapter
22. We'll continue. Our study through
the book of Genesis tonight. And not wanting to leave anything
out. We will deal with these last several verses here in this
chapter twenty two. Look back at chapter where I
look look at the first two verses of chapter twenty two. And then
we'll jump down the verse fifteen, where we left off. Genesis twenty-two,
verse one, And it came to pass, after these things, that God
did tempt, or 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 shall tell thee of." And as
you know the story, we looked at it Sunday. Abraham did as
he was told. Now down to verse fifteen, and
afterward, after all of this took place, it says, verse fifteen,
And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the
second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord,
for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee,
and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the
heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore. And thy
seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed
shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou
hast obeyed my voice." So Abraham returned unto his young men,
and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, or the Well of
the Oath, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba." Stop there, and we'll
touch on the last five verses in a moment. We've been studying Abraham for
several weeks now, and we've clearly seen that Abraham
was just a man, as any other sinful man. He revealed that
by terrible falls. He was a man before God called
him. He was a lost man. He was without God. He was without
Christ. But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved Abraham, he chose Abraham. He called Abraham out of a land
of idolatry. He revealed himself to Abraham. Now, this is every believer's
salvation. What happened to Abraham is what
God does with every one that he saved. He chose Abraham. He called Abraham. He revealed
himself to Abraham. He revealed his covenant to Abraham.
He revealed the way to worship to Abraham. He revealed Christ
to Abraham. He granted faith to Abraham.
Salvation is of the Lord. Abraham knew that. Abraham's faith that people like
to make a great deal over. Abraham's faith was a gift of
God. Abraham's faith, as with everyone's
faith—anyone who has it, God gave it to them. However much
they have, God gave it to them according to the measure of the
gift of Christ. And what Paul said to the Corinthians? There were times when God left
Abraham to himself, and he revealed what he was,
a man, a sinful man. He revealed to Abraham his sin.
He revealed to Abraham his helplessness. He revealed to Abraham his hopelessness
in himself. Like when he went down to Egypt
in a time of famine, God didn't tell him to run. God would have
fed him, sustained him there. And he ran to Egypt, and that's
where he got into all sorts of trouble when he denied his wife.
And then he took matters into his own hand with Hagar. You
know the story of Abraham. There were times when God left
him to himself, and then there were times when God granted him
great faith. It was all in the Lord's hands,
wasn't it? There were times when God granted Abraham great faith,
like when he first called him and he left his home and family.
Have you lived there seventy five years? People brag about
that, don't they? Preachers brag about Abraham
doing that. Well, Abraham wouldn't have taken
a step but by the grace of God. God called him. God granted him
faith. God was gracious to him and granted
him the grace to leave his home and family. Take great grace
for a seventy five year old man to leave his home and family,
wouldn't That great great that's what Abraham got. And then when
he went down to rescue lots he revealed. Great faith revealed
himself to be a man of valor and courage. That was the grace of God to
one. Another time he. Coward before. His enemy denied his wife this
time he. went down and took on armies,
hundreds and thousands of armies, against his little band. That's
a gift of God, wasn't it? By the grace of God. When he
cast out his son Ishmael, that took great grace, didn't it?
When he offered up Isaac. There's times when God granted
Abraham great faith. And I want us to look tonight
at this thing of faith, and very briefly, hopefully, very briefly
and simply, have three points to this message, if you're taking
notes. Number one, faith's object. And number two, faith's trial. Faith's trial. Number three,
faith's victory. Or I look back at chapter fifteen
of Genesis. Talking about Abraham. Chapter
15 of Genesis. Now, we will talk about Abraham's
faith tonight. Primarily, we've been talking
about the God who gave Abraham his faith. We'll do that also,
but we'll talk about this faith that Abraham had. Chapter 15,
look at verse 6. It says, "...Abraham believed
in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness." Abraham believed in the Lord,
and it was counted unto him for righteousness." What did Abraham
believe? Not of what, but of whom? You see, I've heard my
pastor make this statement many years now, and many men have
taken him to task over it. He said, you don't arrive at
Christ through doctrine, you arrive at Doctrine through Christ. This is exactly what Abraham.
Did right right here is the example. Abraham believed God before he
knew anything about God. Didn't he? Well before he knew
anything about the covenant before he knew anything. He believed
God. Abraham believed God. It's not a what it's a who. And
he had things revealed to him. Abraham believed in the Lord,
it said. He believed in the Lord, not
only that he existed, because James said, the devils believe
that. That's not saving faith, just
to believe that God exists. James said, if you believe there's
one God, you do well. The devils believe that, though.
They tremble, believe it. But Abraham believed, like he
said in Hebrews 11, verse 6, he believed that God is. Without
faith it is impossible to please God, but he that believeth God,
or cometh to God, must believe that he is, and the rewarder
of them that diligently seek him." Abraham believed that he
is Lord, that he is God. Not just in theory, not just
in principle, not just in doctrine. He believed that his God was
God. His God was holy. His God was
sovereign. His God was absolute ruler. His
God was God. His God was judge. His God was
master. His God was his only hope. His
God was his salvation. His God was his acceptance. His
God was his righteousness. His God was all. His God was
God. He that believeth, he that cometh
to God must believe he is God. In Him we live and move and have
our being. In Him, of Him, through Him, to Him, by Him, are all
things God. Everybody doesn't believe that.
All believers do. But He's God in every sense of
the word. He's God in every sense of the
title. He's God. Abraham believed God. Paul said that over in Romans.
He said, and he didn't quote it Like it says in Genesis here,
he believed in the Lord. Paul said, Abraham believed God,
and it was counted to him for righteousness. Remember that?
Abraham believed God. In other words, Abraham didn't
just believe that there was a God, that he was God, but Abraham
believed God. You know what that says? Abraham
believed everything God said. Abraham believed God's Word,
in other words. He believed God's Word. See,
faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And Abraham was not just a hearer
only. He was a believer. He was a doer.
He proved his belief by doing. James said that, didn't he? James
devoted several verses to Abraham. He said, Wasn't our father Abraham
justified by works? Remember that? He said he was
justified by works because he proved his faith by his actions. He proved his faith by his works. Abraham believed God and he showed
it. He acted upon it. He was not just a hearer. He
was a doer. Abraham, come out from among
them. I believe that. I hear that. I believe all to
do that. And stay there. So he went. Right? Abraham, take your son up there.
I believe what you're saying. And he took his son. Right? He was a doer. He was a doer.
He believed God and he showed it. And what God said, Abraham
believed. All of it. Brother Rubel and
I were talking last night and I said, I prefer, when we're
talking about God's people, when we're talking about Christians,
I prefer to use the term believer. Because I believe that that most clearly describes the child
of God. That's Abraham and believed God. Everyone who goes by the name
Christian is not a believer. You have merely to read some
portions of Scripture and you'll find out very quickly they don't
believe that. Right? God's people do. They believe
it all. God's sovereignty? Oh, do they
believe that? Because God is. They believe
everything about God. All of his offices, all of his
power, everything about God. Everything about Christ, everything
about themselves. A man's responsibility? They believe it. Don't understand
it? rationalize everything, but they
believe it. And they don't but. They're not gainsayers. They
don't backtalk. They believe it. So I believe
that best describes a child of God. He's a believer. He believes
the irrational. He believes the unnatural. He
believes. Why? Because God said it. And
he doesn't ask for a reason. Abraham didn't, did he? You'll
never find Abraham asking for a reason. He just believed God. I wish I had brought with me
that, uh, uh, that, uh, I don't know, what's the word? Uh, I
can't think of the word, but that thing that the fellow came
up with on the paradox, paradox of a believer. I believe two
to be one and, and, uh, and so forth and so on. Very good. But the believer believes things
irrational, believes things unseen, believes things unnatural. He
believes. What? What's his basis of believing? It's just the Word of God. The
Word of God. And Abraham didn't question God,
he believed God. He was a believer. Abraham believed
God's Christ. Yes, he did. You can't know God,
you can't speak to God or be spoken to God except through
Christ. Christ said, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. That means from Adam on. Right? God, didn't Paul say, No man
hath seen God at any time. God dwelleth in light which no
man could approach unto. And no man hath seen God at any
time. Isn't that what he said? Didn't
our Lord say, God is spirit? Well, the only begotten Son hath
declared him, the one in whom dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead in the body, the Word, the Revealer. Christ is
the one who reveals the Father to every believer from Adam on. Abraham had Christ revealed to
him. He knew God's Christ. He had
to. Without this faith, it's impossible to please God. Without
faith in His Son, it's impossible to please God. Right? There's
a lot of people out there who profess to believe God, worship
Jehovah, and don't believe in God's Son. Right. God's crying. But Abraham believed
God's Christ, as all believers do. He worshipped at Bethel,
at the altar. He had the covenant, talking
about the seed. revealed at the altar. We've
looked at all these things already, haven't we? When Abraham gave
those gifts to Abimelech, did he say, let's see, what can I
give Abimelech? Let's see, I think of something good to give him.
Ah, seven lambs. You lambs. That was significant,
wasn't it? It had deep spiritual significance. And then we saw clearly in Genesis But after Abraham offered his
son Isaac and turned around and saw that
ram caught in the thicket, and they offered up that ram instead
of his son, that's what our Lord was referring
to, I believe, when he said, Abraham, rejoice to see my day.
He saw it. He was so glad. He was so glad
that his son had a substitute, a ram, a male lamb, a male sheep,
a ram, offered in the stead of his son. He saw Christ's day.
He believed God's Christ. And note you know, Abraham and
Isaac talked about God's coming Christ all the way down that
mountain. The substitute is going to come.
Yes, they did. Abraham was justified, declared
holy, accepted by God by faith in God's Son. Everybody is. Every believer is. All right,
secondly. So that's faith's object. It's
a person. Right? It's a person. Number two, faith's tribal. Look
at James chapter one with me. James chapter one. And then we'll
turn over to 1 Peter. James, chapter 1. Faith will
be tried. Faith will be tried. Because anything that's taught
in the scriptures, that's certainly taught very clearly. James, chapter
1. Look at verses 2 through 4. You got it? James 1, verse 2.
My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into different
temptations or trials, knowing this, that the trying of your
faith worketh patiently. How could he say count it joy?
Because God tries all His children. God chastens, God tried. If you'd
be without chastisement, you're a bastard. Be without trials,
probably no faith. Right? That's how James would
say, count it joy. Why? It means you've got some
faith and God's trying it. Knowing this, you need to know
this, that the trying of your faith, work of patience. Anybody
need patience? Anybody got any? Let alone need
more. To try it of your faith, work
it patiently. Let patience have her perfect
or maturing work, that you may be mature, perfect and entire,
wanting nothing, lacking nothing that you need. How does it come,
this maturity trial? Look over at 1 Peter chapter
2. 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter 2. I'm sorry, 1 Peter 1. Look down
at 1 Peter 1, verse 5. He says, We're kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time. Kept by the power of God through faith. faith and unseen
thing. Well, how is faith established?
How is faith strengthened when you can't see things, can't feel
things, when it's that spiritual thing? How is it established?
It's tried, and God proves Himself. Verse 6, Wherein you greatly
rejoice, you greatly rejoice in God's keeping power and His
salvation, though now for a season, if need be, and it is, it's needful. You are in heaviness through
manifold or many temptations of trial, that the trial of your
faith, look what Peter calls it, precious. James says joy,
Peter says precious. We need to learn something about
that, don't we? A trial of your faith being much more precious
than of gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire. fiery
trials. It might be found under praise
and honor and be found to be real, not fool's gold. I remember when I first moved
to Rocky Mountain, I was digging around the yard or something,
I found a rock and it was glittering gold. I'd never seen that stuff
before. You don't have that in Kentucky.
Iron pyrite, is that what they call it? Fool's gold? Well, faith won't enrich anybody,
will it? Huh? Well, neither will false faith. And the only way to reveal true
faith, and if you threw one of those rocks with an iron pie
right in the face, it all would just disintegrate, wouldn't it?
Well, he says our faith must be tried by fiery trials, and
it might be found to be true. Trials don't give faith. Trials don't give faith. Trials
reveal faith. Trials don't give faith. Trials
strengthen faith. And it's not some magical thing. What it is, is it just
God proves himself to you during times of trial. That's what it
is. I must have been talking about faith's object. Faith is
not some magical thing, something we use per se. Faith is just
in a person. And when we're tried by various
things and we depend upon and trust and look to and call upon
and seek this person and he proves himself to you during those times,
your faith in that person is strengthened. You believe more
strongly than ever in this person. You're more firmly persuaded
of him and his promises. It's not some magical thing like
the religious world tries to make it, you know. Use your faith
like mustard, you know, like grace mustard. Use it. It doesn't give faith, it reveals
it and it strengthens faith in Christ. And faith must be tried. It must be tried. Turn back to
the text in Genesis 22. Faith must be tried, like given
this illustration, like a boat. A man builds a boat, and it may
look like a boat, but you don't know it's a boat unless the boat
floats. Right? A boat has to go out to sea to
see if it's seaworthy. To see if it floats, it must
be tried to see if it's seaworthy. If you push it out there, no
matter how good it looks and it sinks, it's not a boat. The
rock or something. It's not a boat. Boats float. Faith will be tried. Faith will
be tried, and faith will persevere. The faith of God's elect will
be tried, and it will be found like Peter, like we read from
Peter, unto praise, honor, and glory. Whatever trial comes about,
that person, that faith, their testimony, their confession will
praise, honor, and glorify God through that trial. It will be
found to be true. The old saying is, Tried and
true. That's what faith will be. Tried
and true. And Peter said, Fiery trials. Fiery trials. Fiery trials. Trial of fire is hurtful isn't
it? Anybody ever been burned? Fire
is hurtful. I mean, the smallest, just touch
your hand in the fire for briefly, it hurts, doesn't it? And little, little trials, you
know, we call them little. Paul did, he called them light
affliction, but it's got to be hurtful, somewhat
hurtful. It costs you something. Fiery
trials though, fiery trials, great trials. Brother Scott Richardson
said this, and I've said it before and it bears repeating over and
over. He said most believers, most
believers in their lifetime will be granted, granted, will be
given be granted one opportunity to really bear witness to God's
grace. One great trial that will bear
witness to their great God, that His grace is sufficient.
Little trials don't glorify God a whole lot, do they? Huh? The world endures inconveniences
and troubles and so forth, don't they? And the Hebrews 11 is a
chapter that we have to show us what all some of God's people
were called to go through, and God's grace was sufficient. These
all died in faith. Most believers of the rich and
said are granted one opportunity. May God give us the grace that
when that trial comes. That it might be found under
his praise honor and glory. And God grant some people great
faith over and over again. Some people go through difficult
trial after trial after trial. Abraham did. Isn't that what
it said in chapter twenty-two? After these things. Hadn't he
gone through enough, Brother Terry? After these things. Well, he's
called the father of the faithful, and the Lord's going to use him
greatly, so the Lord's going to try him greatly. Right? The
Apostle Paul. No man has tried more than the
Apostle Paul, and therefore no man was used like the Apostle
Paul. Right? People believed what Paul said,
didn't they, Stan? Because they saw what Paul went
through, and he didn't fold. So they were more inclined to
believe what he said. After these things, God did try
Abraham. God did it. God did it. Trials
come from God. And that's what our first point
was, faith's object. And the only way we're going
to endure any trial is to see that God's the one that sent
it. The only way we're going to have any grace to endure it
is to see that and believe that God sent it. God sent it. If
you believe God, you've got to believe that. He said that in
Isaiah 45, I wound, I make sick. Why am I sick? I don't know,
but God did it. I wound, I heal. I killed, but
why did my child die? Why did my father die? God killed
him. That may be all the answer we'll
get, isn't it? To a believer, that's got to be good enough,
right? I kill, I make life. I create
peace, I make evil or calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. Abraham's fiery trials they were
fiery trial leaving home and an old age going childless for
fifty. Seventy five years he went without
children. His son lots of you know a lot
was really his son not a lot he called a lot his son and his
only boy he knew really. He was so close to his nephew
a lot he called him his son. Remember when a lot was captured? Oh it was grievous to him John.
And what made him so mad, he went down and took on all those
armies to get Lott back. It was a tough trial, wasn't
it? He was scared now. A little band
of soldiers, a little band of people against soldiers. When
his son Ishmael was cast out, because of his son, He finally
did have a flesh and blood son, and God told him to kick him
out when he was 15 years old. I can't. I'm sorry. I can't enter into that. The older your children grow,
the more attached you become to them, right? Take grace, wouldn't you? Take grace. Then Isaac came along. Oh, my, a miracle. A miracle son. Son of his laughter. You know Isaac means laughter. That's what Sarah said. God has made me to laugh. In
my old age. Pleasure and joy. A son and God
said go kill him. Oh my, my, my, my, my. And think
about it three days while you go. Man, oh man, oh man. Now people. Faith in facts won't let you
take your son and kill him. Will it? Faith in a God who wants to do
things and can't won't do it either. Faith in a God who tries
and fails. Faith in a God who has nothing
to do with sickness and troubles. Faith in a God who sits idly
by while Satan has his day with you. faith in a Jesus who died for
your sins, but you might be lost after all. That won't make you
do anything. That kind of faith won't save
you, it won't last, it won't see you through a fiery trial,
will it? It'll make you quit. I can't understand why people,
for the life of me, I can't understand why people choose to believe
in a God who wants to do things and can't, and who sits idly
by while Satan just assaults people. God didn't mean that
to happen to you, but he wanted me to do something. Huh? For the life of me, I can't
understand why people would stay true to a God like that. I'd
say, I don't need that, the heck with, that's exactly what, the
heck with that God. I need a God more powerful than
Satan. I tell you what, there is such
a God. Faith is faith in a God that's
Sovereign will make somebody do things
like that, a great thing. Faith in God who does as He will,
with whom He will, because He will. Faith in God who does all
things, and He does all things right. Unquestionably right. Shall not
the judge of the earth do right every time? It's the Lord. It's right He does it. Not because
I think it's right, but because he does it is right. Faith in
God who does only what's best. Everything he does, all things
work together for what? Good. Faith in God who does only
what's best. Faith in God who never fails,
whose plans and purposes never fail. There are always a couple. Faith in a Jesus who actually
saves. Faith in a Christ who actually
redeems, faith in the Lord who actually keeps you, actually
keeps you by his power. Now that, that kind of faith
will overcome. And here's, here's the victory,
faith's victory. Turn over to 1 John 5, 1 John
5. All right, turn over there very
quickly and I'll try to wrap this up. 1 John 5, faith is victory. See, faith in that God, faith
in that Christ, a God who is God and a Christ who is Christ.
Now, that kind of faith will overcome. It's the only thing that will.
1 John 5, look at verse 1. 1 John 5, verse 1, Whosoever
believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Now, I'd love to expound on that a
little more, but just believing that he is Christ in name only,
that's not it. That means that he's Christ. That means he's all. He's salvation. Faith. Whosoever believe that
Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ, the Messiah, the Redeemer, the
Prophet, the Priest, the King, the Mediator, the Advocate, Salvation
is born of God. It's born of God. You see, not
of the will of the flesh, not the will of man, but born of
God. Look at verse 4. And whatsoever is born of God,
or whosoever is born of God, overcometh the world. This is
the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the
world? He that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. What's
he talking about overcoming the world here? Well, listen. Overcoming natural affection. We start out loving the world,
don't we? Everybody in here born a world
lover. Things of it, people of it. We
love it more than God. Worship the creature more than
the Creator, right? Everybody. The faith God gives
overcomes that. To where you love things that
are not seen, you prefer them over things that are seen. Faith
overcomes natural affection. That's how Abraham, Abraham loved
Ishmael, but he cast him out. He loved that
boy. He loved him just as much as
you love your children. He loved you, loved him just
as much as you loved David, Henry. He cast him out. How could he
do that? It's the only way. Abraham loved
Isaac, as much as you do your own. He
took him up there to kill him. And we, not to the same degree,
but at least in principle, we are called on to forsake family.
Some of you have a dear father and a dear mother who don't care
about your God and don't care about your Christ. You have to
say. I love Christ more than even
I love you. Right. We're called on to do
that and really we don't have to kill. That's the sense of
what Christ was saying when he said if any man hate not his
father or mother son or daughter husband wife his own life hate
not that means. Love Christ so much that it appears
that you don't have that natural affection for your family. And
I gave you the illustration of Brother Walter Drew when he took
his family to Mexico, his little children, that one of his family
said to him, you must hate your children to take them down there. He didn't hate his children.
He just loved Christ more. That's the only thing that'll
make a man go to Mexico, isn't it? The only thing that'll overcome
those obstacles is natural affection. It'll overcome natural reason.
God said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called Abraham, but take
him and kill him. I don't understand that, Lord,
but I'll do it anyway. Right? I don't understand. And
people ask me a lot of things that I don't understand. Don't
you? Don't they, you? There's a lot of things I don't
understand from the Scripture. But I believe in it anyway. It'll overcome natural reasoning.
Natural reasoning. Abraham didn't fully understand God's purposes and all, but he
believed. After he believed, and trust
in God, then he fully understood. Isn't that what our Lord said
to Mary and Martha? Didn't I tell you, if you would
believe God, you'd see the glory of God? If you'd believe, if
you'd just believe, you'd see the glory of God. Didn't I tell
you that? Didn't he say that? If thou believest all things
are possible. Believe, you'll see the glory
of God. We walk by faith, not by sight. Faith becomes evidence
of things not seen. Abraham didn't fully understand,
but he believed. After he believed, he fully understood. Faith will overcome self-will.
Self-will. Abraham didn't want to get rid
of his children, did he? He didn't want to get rid of
his son. Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done. Right? And lastly, look back at the
text, Genesis 22. I said I had three points, but
it's really four. Face reward. Genesis 22, look
at verse 16 through 18 again. It says, God said, Genesis 22,
verse 16, God said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord,
because you've done this thing and have not withheld thy son,
thine only son, When I'm doing some blessing, oh, I'm going
to bless thee. And multiplying, oh, I'll multiply
thy seed as the stars of the heavens and the sand of the seashore. Thy seed shall possess the gate
of his enemy, and thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice." God said he would multiply blessings
on Abraham because He obeyed his Lord. Faith reward. Unspeakable. Unsearchable riches. Unsearchable. And I do want you
to note a few things here in closing in chapter 22. We'll
close this out. Christ. We've seen Christ all
the way through the book of Genesis and he's just as clearly revealed
here in Genesis. We looked at the first 14 verses. That's Christ without doubts. That's Christ, isn't it? Look
up at verse 11. It says, The angel of the Lord
called unto Abraham. Who's that? Michael, Gabriel. Look at verse
12. He said, Lay not thine hand upon
the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know thou
fearest God. See, and thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son, from me. Christ is the angel of the Lord,
the angel of his mercy, the angel of his grace, the angel of his
love. He's the messenger of the covenant. He's the revealer of
God. He's the Word of God. God never spoke except through
Christ. Christ is called the Word. In the beginning was the
Word. Christ is a revealer of God. Christ is the messenger
of God. We've seen that. The voice of
God walking in the garden was the first one to preach the gospel
to Adam, the first sinner. Christ said, He must have preeminence
in all things. He's got to be the first preacher. And the last. When all preachers
are silent, He's going to keep preaching. He's the first to
start. Abraham, Christ provided Abraham
the ram. It says that God will provide
himself a ram. That was Christ that gave Abraham
that ram, a picture of himself. And Abraham called this Christ,
he called him Jehovah-Jireh. Brother Rubel said to me, he
said to some Jehovah, here's a good answer for you people.
The Jehovah witness come to your door? He said that a couple of
them came to his door the other day and He said, y'all Jehovah's
Witnesses? They said, yeah. He said, I am
too. They said, really? Are you? He said, yeah. He starts talking about Jesus
Christ being Jehovah. Yeah, I'm a witness of Jesus
Christ who is Jehovah and so on. I thought that was a good
answer. They got real excited. They left
real dejected. Christ is Jehovah Jireh, isn't
he? Isn't he the one that provides
all things? Isn't he made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification? Isn't he the provider of salvation,
mercy, grace? Aren't all things provided for
us in Christ, by Christ, through Christ? Verse fifteen, look at
this. The angel of the Lord called
unto Abraham out of the heaven a second time, and he said, By
myself have I sworn. Because thou hast done this thing,
hath not withheld thy son. Why Christ swore by himself,
didn't he? He swore, verse 17 and 18. All this is a type of Christ,
isn't it? Because Christ did this thing,
verse 16, because Christ did what he did. Made his soul a
sacrifice. Gave his life. Verse 17, God
says, I'll bless Christ. Multiplying his seed, God's Christ's
people are the stars of the heaven and sand of the seashore. And
God's seed, Christ's seed, his church shall possess or have
the gates of hell shall not prevail against his church. That's all
Christ did. Because, verse 18, Christ's seed,
his church, shall be blessed throughout the world. All nations
of the earth shall be blessed. He'll have a seed of people out
of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue unto heaven. Why?
Because Christ obeyed God's voice. That's all Christ did. It's all
Him. Because Christ did this great
thing, because Christ obeyed God's voice, there's a seed born. A seed. A bride. Now let me show you something. Look down at verse, look at verses
20 and following. This is just some kind of genealogy,
it doesn't matter. Immediately after Isaac is sacrificed,
we have this genealogy. Why? Well, read it. Now read it and remember now
the context. Isaac was just sacrificed. and came back, as it were, from
the grave." Now verse 20, "...and it came to pass, after these
things, it was told Abraham..." Somebody just came running up
to Abraham and said, Hey, your brother's wife, Nahor's wife,
Milcah. Verse 20, "...she hath borne
children unto your brother Nahor." and Burroughs were some names.
Rick, you looking for a name? Call him Huzz Buzz. Oh my. Huzz and Buzz and Camule,
the father of Aram and Chisset and Hazel and Pilbeck. Like I
said, I'm so thankful for John and Steve and Rick, Henry. Jidlap and Bethul, and look at
verse 23, and Bethul begat Rebekah, Isaac's wife. After Isaac was sacrificed, we
hear about his wife being born. Is that just coincident? Christ's bride, born of water and of blood, Rebecca. And then a couple of, you know,
and right after this, we'll deal with it, I guess, Sunday morning,
chapter 23, Sarah died. Now, wasn't it, what, you think
Abraham's trials were over? Just a few years later, Sarah
dies. Huh. Wife he'd had Terri for a hundred
years. Oh boy, you've got the trial
of your faith being much more precious than gold is tried with
fire. They might be found under praise
and honor and glory in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith
will be tried. Remind me of that, and I'll remind
you. The faith subject will overcome. All right, stand by. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your word. If it wasn't for your word, we
wouldn't have a clue about anything. We'd be so ignorant. We'd just
be lost. We'd be without hope, without
help, without answers, without strength. We'd just be overcome. We'd be downcast, depressed. The Lord, through thy word, we
are strengthened and we have faith through thy word. Our faith is not only created,
faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word, but our faith is
strengthened through seeing your promises, through seeing experiences
of other believers, and by standing on those promises and by you
proving yourself to us, in our own experience. And Lord, this
faith that you've given us, we feel is so weak, yet you said
it will be tried. And when you try us, dear God,
grant us grace. Grant us grace, lots of grace,
to endure the trial for your glory, for your honor, for your
praise. Not unto us, not unto us, but
for thy glory and honor, Lord. You give the glory out of us. We fail to glorify you. You've
come far short of the glory of God. So if by trying us, thou
art glorified, Lord, grant us the grace to do so. We pray. We pray that. I pray that for
myself. I pray that for everyone in here. In the name of Christ,
we appreciate your word and thank you for it. Thank you for revealing
it to us. Bring us back to worship this Lord today. In Christ's
name we pray. Amen.