Genesis 22. The gospel can be summed up in one
word. Substitution. That sums up the gospel. The
good news. And it's only good news to us,
an old sinner who sees that he is a sinner before God, worthy
of death, condemnation, judgment. It's only good news. Gospel,
that's what gospel means. It's only good news to a sinner.
Not a good person, not a religious person, but a sinner. It's only good news, and the
good news is substitution. In the stead of, in the place
of. See, an old sinner, when he sees
himself condemned and worthy to die, and sees that Jesus Christ
He died for him. Didn't have to, but he did. Then
it's good news. It's gospel indeed. It's gospel
indeed. Substitution. Substitution. We sang that song just now. I never used to give a thought
for it. the gospel. Carry not, my Lord was crucified. How long did you go, Jeanette,
or some of you? Carry not. There's some in here,
I bet you, I just bet you, this morning, who don't really care
about the fact that Jesus Christ died on a cross. Carry not, my
Lord was crucified. Knowing not, it was for me he
died. It was me who should have died
at Calvary. But there, when I finally saw,
it was for me. See, that substitution is only
good news to an old sinner. All right, look at verse one,
and this is what this story is about. Substitution. The story
of Jesus Christ, God's Lamb. dying in our stead. And it came
to pass after these things. It came to
pass. It came, this trial that Abraham
was about to undergo, which was the greatest trial of his life. A trial which, if you asked him,
he'd say, I hadn't had a trial up until now. After he went through
that, he would have said, the rest weren't trials, really.
Now, that's just trial. It came to pass. I see Henry smiling. It came to pass. This greatest of trials, it came. came from God. With this, too,
passed. It passed. Now, Abraham had gone
through some tough trials. It says, After these things,
don't think for a minute he didn't. All God's people will go through
trials. Peter called them fiery trials. Fire burns, doesn't it? Hurts.
Painful. Trial is not a trial unless It's
hurtful and it's painful, and God sins them, not the devil. God sins them. You read that
there. It says that God didn't tempt
or try Abraham. The devil doesn't send trials.
God does. And Abraham, every trial that
came upon Abraham was of God's ordering. Abraham left his home
of seventy-five years. Seventy-five-year-old man. Who
in here is, what man in here is Charles Ross? You the only
man in here in your seventies? I think you are. What if you
were called, leave Rocky Mountain? Seventy-some years. Leave. Go. Where? I don't know. Go. That
was a trial, wasn't it? God said, leave. Where, Lord?
I'll show you. That was a trial. Seventy-five
years old, tough to uproot his home and family and leave, and
wander in the wilderness. Sarah said, wasn't he going to
build us a home, Abraham? That was a trial, wasn't it? And then Lots, whom he took with
him, his nephew Lots. You remember when they came to
divide into the ways and Lots took the best part of the Now,
Barbara, here they are, and they come to what looks like the Promised
Land, and the nephew takes the best part. And it would be like Charles
and Bob there going somewhere, and Charles saying, Bob, what
will you take? I'll take the plains. Dad, you
take the hills. As a child, where are you going
to settle, honey? In this old, crowded mountain. It was tough. It was a trial.
Lot got the best part, it seemed. Well, Lot was kidnapped. You remember that story? Abraham
loved Lot. He loved Lot, and Lot was kidnapped,
and Abraham had to go rescue him. They went through wars,
fighting. Abraham went through a war. That
was a tough trial, wasn't it? A tough trial. The Lord told Abraham, when he
was seventy-five years old, that he would have a child. And now
Abraham was seventy-five years old. He'd been married to Sarah
probably at least forty-five years, without children. And like most couples, they wanted
children. And they hadn't had any, and that's a trial, isn't
it? Not to have any children when you want them. Well, seventy-five
years old, God said, Abraham, you're going to have a child.
Boy, we got excited. Don't you know he got excited?
Oh boy. 25 years passed. 25 years. Where's the sun? That was a trial, wasn't it?
A tough trial. I'm trying to let you enter into
what this man actually went through. But we can't. We can't. It's just a story.
to most of us. But, and then that trial with
a handmaid. You remember that Sarah said,
go into my handmaid, let's have a child. God must mean for us
to do something about this and have a child. And Ishmael was
born. And so this is the only child
that Abraham had. Now, he finally got a boy. Wrongly. That way you don't go over. He
got this boy, and then God one day said, get rid of him. The boy was about 15 years old,
Stan. Now, he's attached to him, I think. On the sun. Get him
out of here. Oh, man, that was tough. Tough. Oh, that was tough. It says, after these things,
God sent a trial. And it came to pass. The toughest
trial of all. And he was a hundred and some
years old. God, look at it. Verse one says that God did tempt. The word is try Abraham and sit
unto him. He said unto him, Abraham. Now
Abraham had heard that voice before. He heard it several times before.
He'd heard it once in judgment. And God came to him and said,
I'm going to destroy a son. But the rest of the time, he
heard only good news. Abraham, I am your portion. Abraham, I'm going to bless them
that bless you. I'm going to bless you. Abraham,
I'm going to give you a son. Bless him. Bless him. Bless him. Bless him. God said, Abraham. Abraham knew that voice well.
Here am I. Here I am. Abraham, take your son. Now, Terry, he
thought that God was going to say something pleasant again,
a blessing, reassuring, a promise maybe. I know you're waiting
on a son, Abraham, and I'm going to send him. Be patient. No,
he said, take your son. Take your son, thine only son.
Listen to how it builds up. Take your son, thine only. And son is in italics, take your
only Isaac. And I know what this means. When
the word Hannah is spoken, I don't think of this person, that person,
I make them my, the only Hannah to me. My only Hannah. Not just my only daughter, she's
my Hannah. The grace of God, the gift of
God to me, my only daughter. Your only son, take your son,
your only son Isaac, Whom you love. I know you love him. You
love him dearly. You're one you love. And get thee into the land of
Moriah and burn his body on a mountain. Now, people talk about the faith
of Abraham, and he was, people, and it was by the grace of God,
totally by the grace of God. We've been studying Abraham,
haven't we? We've seen how he failed miserably
all the way through. He failed miserably, didn't he?
What do you reckon his fleshly response was to this at first?
Huh? Come on. What is your fleshly response
to a hard trial that comes on you at first? Oh Lord, why? Huh? Come on now. He's just a man.
Think about the agony he felt. Not only kill him, there's enough
to kill him, he's going to have to burn his body. Now people, this is not just
a pitiful story, or a story that we might pity Abraham or to make
us admire Abraham. This is not written so that we
might admire Abraham. Abraham did not kill his son.
God is not a monster. God does not require anyone to
kill their son. Pagan gods do that. The gods
that natives dance around idols and worship to throw their children
in lakes of fire and so forth to that God to appease his pagan
angry that God of the Bible doesn't require us to kill our children,
never has, never will. But he killed his son. Whew! Oh, this is a story of Christ.
This is a story to show us that God killed his son in our state. Not so we go away from here bragging
on Abraham. Nine out of ten preachers have
preached from this and they brag on Abraham. They talk about Abraham
and make a little mention of Jesus in the middle. That's not
why this portion was written, people. That's not why this was
written. They are they which testify of
Jesus Christ. You see, Christ is the only begotten. The only Son of the Most High
God. We're adopted. He's the only
begotten. Very God of very God. The seed of God. What's that
mean? I don't know, but He's God. He's the only begotten. He's the well-beloved. Say, God
loves everybody. Only in Christ. The only one
God really loves is Christ. Why? He's the only one worth
loving. The only way he can love any son of Adam is in Jesus Christ. And God took his only son, his
only Christ, the one whom he loved, and burned his body on a tree,
on a wooden altar. Now, think about this, people.
Abraham was touched at the thought of killing his son, wasn't he? I think so. Stephen, would you, or Terry,
would you be, would it bother you to kill Stephen or Jonathan? Sure it would. You think God
Almighty was touched at the thought of making his son a bloody sacrifice
on a tree? Hmm? That's the reason this thing's
so serious. It's the reason why people think
that what God did to his son is so serious. That's when he
said, is it nothing to you all that passed by that God made
his son a bloody sacrifice on a tree? I don't care about that.
I don't care about you either. God says, I burned my son once,
and you don't care about it? You're going to get burned next. You see how serious this gospel
message is? What Christ did? I'm not angry
at you, I'm just, I'm angry at myself for considering it a life
thing. I'm angry at those who care not,
touch not. God was touched at the thought
of killing his son. Shedding his blood, sending him
to hell on a cross, burning his body, making him an orphan for
sin. Words can't describe that. Never heard a man yet preach
adequately from Psalm 22. My God, my God, why has thou
forsaken me? Well, Abraham thought these things
over. God said, take your son and offer
him a burnt offering. Abraham thought these things
over, and I bet you these things went through his mind. I'm certain
of it. He began to question God's sovereignty. Yes, I'm not God's sovereignty,
but God's orders here. He said, now God forbids murder. He's telling me to kill my son. God gave him no reason for it
when Ishmael was cast out. He may have thought, now this
is, I don't understand this. He said, in Isaac shall thy seed
be called. He's telling me to kill Isaac.
I don't understand it. It's human, isn't it? He thought, don't you know, he
thought, how am I going to face Sarah? Now this is before God, in grace,
dealt with him. assured him, reassured him. Three
days he thought about this. And I know he thought, well how
am I going to, what am I going to say to Sarah? Where's Isaac?
I killed him and burned his body. I know he thought, what are the
pagan kings and people and unbelievers and all going to say about this?
That's what they do, kill their children. What are they going
to say about me killing my son? I'm no different than them. What
did he do? What did Abraham do? I won't
do... No. Verse 3. Abraham didn't understand. Did he? We don't understand the ways
of God are pastime in that. Aren't they? We don't understand.
Why would God afflict me of cancer? Why would God do this? Why would
God that? The ways of God are pastime in that. But you know
this much, and you need to know this much. He's God. And whatever
he does is right, and the end's going to turn out all right.
And if you just hang around, you're going to see the glory
of God like you didn't see it before that trial came on you. You thought you believed God
before. Well, this is over. You're going to believe him more.
That's what trial's all about, to strengthen our faith. It doesn't
give faith. Trials don't give faith. They
just reveal whether it's there or not. And it's strict in what's
there, too. A trial of your faith that might
be found unto honor and glory the day of his appearing. Well,
verse 3 says, Abraham rose up early. He might have put it off,
mightn't he? He could have put it off. He
could have lingered around, staying, right? Thinking, I don't want
to go, I don't want to go. Got up early, Joe. He rose up early. He rose up early in the morning.
And it says he saddled his horse, took two of his young men with
him, and Isaac, his son. First he had to split the wood,
had to split the wood. With every blow upon that wood,
he sank about, burning his son with that piece
of wood. Could have got green wood, couldn't he, so it wouldn't
burn very well? Think about killing his son. Yes. They'd sharpen
his knife, didn't they? Wet his knife. Every time he
wetted that knife, he thought, I'm going to plunge this in my
son's breast. How can I do this? By the grace
of God. They got the fire back there,
and they carried the fire in a little pot in the coals. They
carried coals is what they did, and they blew on the coal and
burnt And the fire rose up. He got that ready and started
a fire and got a nice bed of coals that would last a good
long time, three days. So he rose up early and did all
that and went to the place that God told him. And then on the
third day, three days, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the
place, the farm. Three days. I just imagine he didn't sleep
much for three nights, don't you? Every night he looked at
that boy. The boy was anywhere from fifteen
to twenty-five years old by this time. He looked at that boy whom
he loved. Three nights he gazed at his
sleeping form by the fire. And I can't tell you how God
loves his son. God beheld his son for three
billion years. Beheld his son, the son of his
love, a son he loved and admired and respected. But God spent
that much time preparing for his son to die. You think about that? I think
the preparation involved concerning the killing of God's Abraham
had to get the right seasoned wood and sharpen his knife and
kindle the fire. What could be said about our
great God preparing before the world for the greatest event
in all of eternity? You know, all time measures around
Christ. All time measures around Christ.
This is the most important thing. This reason, unbelief will damn
people. Unbelief is people saying, I
don't care about Christ. I don't care about what he did.
I don't care. It's the most important thing to God Almighty. You think Abraham was involved
with trivial things for those three days? Huh? Oh, there's one thing on his
mind, killing his son. There's one thing on God Almighty's
mind, uppermost in his mind, foremost in his mind, And it's
that which around all time and eternity revolves, that point
in time around which everything hinges, and your and my destiny
hinges around God killing his son. It's serious to God, very
serious. And all that God did in preparation
to kill his son, From Titus 1 on, every type, symbol, jot, tittle,
remember the jots and tittles? Everything pointed to the death
of Jesus Christ. God spent, as it were, a day
is a thousand years. A thousand years is a day. How
many thousands of years before Christ came? Four thousand years. A day is a thousand years. Multiply
it. Three hundred and sixty-five
thousand times four thousand. And eternity before that. God
thinking about killing his son. Every word, every thing, every
symbol prepared for the sacrifice of God's Son on the cross. Look
at verse 5. Now, Abraham looked up and saw
the place afar off, and Abraham said unto the young men, verse
5, Abraham said unto his young men, You abide here with us. It came time. After three days'
journey, the time came to slay his son. And he said to these
men that were with him, y'all got to stay here. You wait here. It's between me and the boy.
You abide here with the ass. I and the lad will go yonder
and worship. Oh, this is going to be worship.
Worship, Abraham said, worship like I've never worshipped before.
Abraham's about to pray like he's never prayed before. Abraham's
about to see some things he's never seen before, like he's
never seen before. Abraham's going to rejoice like
he's never rejoiced before. He's going to know God like he's
never known God before. He's going to see the gospel
like he's never seen it before. He's going to go worship. I am
the land. I am the Son. Father and the
Son. He's going to go worship. And
we're going to come again to you. I think it was about this
time, Joe, the Lord started dealing with his heart, you know. Abraham,
I promised you, and I can't lie, that in Isaac shall thy seed
be caught. Yeah, but... Don't worry about
it, Abraham. Just do as I say. Just do as
I say, and you'll see the salvation of God. Okay? Isaac? Yeah, Isaac. My son? Your son. He gonna live? Can't have children if you don't
live. All right. I'll do it. And the
boy, he said, we're gonna go worship, and we're gonna come
back. Ah, boy. He said, y'all stay
here. Christ This thing of the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ was between God the Father and God
the Son. God the Father and God the Son at Calvary's tree. See,
twelve people went to the Passover. Twelve people went into that
upper room. Eleven went into the garden. Three went into the
garden of Gethsemane to pray. At the foot of the cross, everybody
else out. It's between the Father and the
Son. This thing of putting away our
sins was between God the Father and God the Son. There's not
going to be any human hand, not going to be any help in this
thing. Nobody's going to be around. It's going to be God the Father
and God the Son. And Jesus Christ was alone with
the Father on that tree. And eventually he was alone without
the Father. You see, sin can only be dealt
with by God. Sin can only be dealt with by
Christ. only by Christ and the Father.
And you know, Christ said one time, he said to his disciples
as they were going into Jerusalem, he said, Behold, I go to Jerusalem. And there, you see, about three
days, Christ looked and beheld the place afar off, Jerusalem. He stood over that city, Jerusalem,
Jerusalem. They held the place afar off,
and he said to his disciples, that there I'm going to go. I'm
going to go to Jerusalem, and they're going to take the Son
of Man. He's going to be betrayed in the enemy hands. They're going
to take him. They're going to kill him. They're going to bury him. But I'll come again. I'll arise again on the third
day. I'm going to go worship. You've sinned and come short
of the glory of God. I'm going to glorify Him. You
haven't worshiped God as you should. I'm going to. Without
shedding a blood, there's no remission of sins. Your blood
can't do it and mine can. I'm going to go to the Father
and offer up this one sacrifice to sin forever. I'm going to
come again. I'm going to rise again the third
day. Verse 6, So Abraham took the
will of the burnt offering Oh, this is glory. Abraham took the
wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son.
He laid that wood on Isaac. Isaac carried his own altar.
Does that sound familiar? The Lord Jesus Christ carried
his own cross. Isaac was able to. I told you,
Isaac was a big striping boy by this time. He was able. He
could carry it. Christ is able. He's able. You see, God, the Scripture says,
laid on him the iniquity of us all. And he's able. He's able. He carried his cross,
and that's not the only thing he carried. That wasn't the chief
burden Christ carried up Calvary's hill. Gone up his hill, it was
our sin that weighed him down. Christ carried our sins on his
broad shoulders. He's able. That son is able. He's able. And they went, both
of them together. And Abraham took the fire in
his hand and the knife. That's the justice and the wrath
of God Almighty. The justice and the wrath of
God Almighty. Who may abide his wrath, the
fierceness of his wrath in that fierce day? Nobody can abide
it. Christ could. Verse 7. Now picture the story
here. Abraham taking his son up here. And now, Abraham had taught this
boy from a child, as every father should do. He taught this boy. He taught him well. Taught him
without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin,
that you can't worship God without blood. He taught him that. He taught him it's the blood
that makes up atonement for the soul. When you go to sacrifice
and worship for God, you've got to have blood. God won't be spoken
to, won't deal with us except through blood. That blood represents
the Christ who's going to come and shed his blood to put away
our sins so that God may justify us, pay for our sin, pay the
punishment. It's the blood that makes the
atonement for the soul. Isaac knew that God couldn't be approached
without blood, without a lamb. Most so-called preachers don't
know this much. They preach one Sunday on Mama,
Mother's Day, and the other one on Father's Day. This is the
day the Lord has made. Every day is the Lord's Day.
Every time we meet together, we meet to remember Christ, not
mother. If they'd preach on this, they'd
preach about Abraham. We're not supposed to remember
Abraham. This dude remembers me, Christ said. What I did. What I did. I didn't know that
without blood. And most preachers will be preaching
this and other things without any mention of Christ's blood. But I'll listen to it. Isaac
said unto Abraham his father, verse 7, he said, "...the lamb."
Where's the lamb, Dad? God's holy. He can't be praised
without blood, without death. Blood, the lamb. Where's the
lamb? There's the fire, here's the
wood. Where's the lamb? And I see in religion today,
I see lots of fire. What they call Holy Ghost fire
and revival, you know, fire and revival, lots of fire, fire-telling
preachers and all this nonsense going on. See lots of wood, wood
hanging stubble. Lots of choirs and robes and
singing and this and that and the other, and buildings and
tabernacles and all this wood that's going to burn someday.
And I'm made to ask, in the midst of all this commotion, where's
the Lamb? What's all this going on here?
What's this religious service about? We've got the Spirit.
Where's the Lamb? You don't want to worship Him. You want to worship Him. Where's
the Lamb? You can't worship without a Lamb. Oh, but God's love. Oh, God's
holy. He's got to have blood first thing. Where's the lamb? Oh, I love this. Now, here's
the gospel, folks. Right here. Verse 8. Abraham
said, My son, you've been taught well. You heard some things I've been
saying. My son... You know, Abraham knew, yet he
didn't know. Stan, he knew, but he didn't
know. He didn't know what he was saying
here. He knew what he was saying, but he didn't know what he was
saying. Right? This is God speaking through him here. Oh, the depth
of this statement. God will provide himself a lamb
for the burn of it. Well, Isaac did nicely, wasn't
he? Good enough for me. And they
went both of them together. That's all it was said. Oh, the
depth in that one statement, huh? God will provide himself a lamb. Listen to this. I first remember
Brother Scott Richardson years ago preaching on this, and he
brought these things out, and it's like it just jumped out
at me. God will provide. See, this lamb's
going to be of God's doing. God's going to be the one to
provide the lamb. See, a child is born. It was a Jesus that was born
on earth, but the Son was given. We didn't ask for Jesus, and
when He got here, we killed Him. But God provided. God sent His
Son down here. God sent His Son into the world
that we might have life. God sent His Son. We didn't ask
for Him, but God sent Him. God will provide. God will provide. How are we going to get to God?
You can't. God will provide. What are we going to need? We're
going to need a lamb. We're going to need a lamb. God will provide.
God will provide Himself a lamb. God's going to be the lamb, you
see. And not the blood of lambs and
bullets. What can that do to a holy guy?
How can that put away my sin? How can the blood of an animal
have anything to do with my soul? Take just a picture. The blood
of God's Son can, and does, have everything to do with my soul. It puts away my sin. The soul
of that sinner, Christ, must surely die. Christ died to pay
for my sin. God will provide Himself. When
John saw Christ coming, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. God was in Christ reconciling
the world to Him. That's God, the Lamb of God. God will provide Himself. He's
the Lamb. And God will provide Himself a Lamb. You know that the sacrifice of
Christ on the cross wasn't first—wasn't first for us? You know that? It wasn't first
for us, it was for God. God will provide for Himself
a lamb. You see, how can God be just
and justify man? How can a holder of God have
anything to do with a sinner? When John, he says, you sin,
you die. I love righteousness, I hate iniquity. I do iniquity
all the time. I'm a sinner. God says you've
got to die. You've got to die. You've got
to pay for your sins. You've got to die or God won't,
will by no means clear the guilty. John, you're guilty, aren't you?
God's holding. It can't have anything to do
with you. One germ in the operating room, the surgeon's room, might
infect the whole area, right? God's not going to have any sinner
in his heaven. He might well have one sin in
his heaven. That which maketh a lie, that which spoileth his
holy heaven. And God doesn't want to have anything to do with
sin. It's got to be put away. It's got to be paid for. So God says, if I'm going to
save sinners, if I don't have anything to do with sinners,
blood's got to be shed. That's the reason Christ, before
the world began, is called the Lamb slain. Barbara, God couldn't
even think on us apart from Christ. We're too sinful. Right? Didn't he say, the sun is not
pure, the moon shineth not, the sun shineth not? God's have too
pure eyes to behold iniquity. He can't fake on sin. It's so
detestable to Him. He can't, without blood. So God provided Himself a land.
And that's the reason Christ was a land before the world began.
It was for God. for God. Before there was a sinner,
there was a lamb slain. A lamb slain. Justice has to
be satisfied. God will punish sin. He's holy. That's what preachers are missing
today. That's what they're missing. They're not preaching it today.
Oh, they're not preaching this today. Therefore, there's no
fear of God before men's eyes. God must punish sin. That's the
reason Christ died. There was no other way to punish
our sin. by blood, by Christ dying, an
infinite sacrifice for our infinite sin. And I tell you what, now,
when a poor, condemned sinner sees all this, oh boy, he'll
see his need for a sacrifice for Christ. He'll see that God
will provide. The minute that old sinner sees
that he needs a sacrifice, God will come to him and say, God will provide himself. Leviticus
9. Let's read on. Let's hurry. And
so they came to the place, they came to the place which God had
told him of. God told his son, Christ knew
he was a lamb slain. They were in it together. They
ordained this thing together. They planned it together. The
place he should go. die and what he should do. And
God told him, and they came to the place, finally came to the
place. Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order
and bound his son, bound Isaac, his son, tied him up with a cord,
a strong cord, his hands behind his back, tied his feet together
and picked up that boy he loved and placed his body on that altar. on that altar of war. Ah, boy, is it nothing to you? Bound his son. Bad enough. Tie
his hand behind his back and blindfold him. You know, Isaac,
like I said, he was 15, 20, 25 years old by then. He didn't
have to let that old man tie him up. Didn't he? He didn't have to let that
old man tie him up. A hundred and some year old man, I believe
he could have took him. Maybe not. But he would have to. He was
obedient, even to death, to his father. Ah, boy, he willingly surrendered
himself to be bound and laid on that altar. And Christ said,
Christ didn't have to die. Jesus Christ didn't have to become
a man living in this cesspool. He didn't have to come down here
and thirty-three years suffer the malignancy of men and all
this abuse. He didn't have to do that. He
didn't have to save anybody, did he? He didn't have to do
that. As Scripture says, for the joy
set before him, the joy of saving people, endured the cross, endured
it. Not my will, O God, but thy will
be done. Tie me up. Bind me. Bind me by this covenant. I'm
bound by this covenant. Set my face steadfast toward
Jerusalem. They're going to kill you, pluck
your beard out, stick a thorn, a crowning thorn on your head.
They're going to spit in your face. I'm set for the defense
of my people. Bound by His covenant, bound
by His love, there's only one way to save these people. That's
for you to die. Do you love them? I love them
with an everlasting love, and I'll love them to the end. I'll
die for them. You're bound by sin, bound by
the law, bound by God, and placed on the cross. You know, people, like I said,
only an old sinner that sees himself, Christ doing this for him, only
that person will this really mean anything to. Someday, people are going to
see, too late, just how holy God is, and just how He hates
sin, and just what we need. You know, everybody's going to,
at one time, going to see what they needed. They needed Christ. They needed Christ. And salvation
comes when God shows you now, you need Christ. You need somebody
to do something for you. that you can't do for yourself,
to take your place, to take your place. And that's us laying on
that altar that God ought to kill. That's us sitting, hanging
on that cross. That song says, I should have
been crucified. I deserve to be spit in, had
my face spit on. Don't you? Stan, have your beard
plucked. John, to have a crown of thorns,
you ungrateful, rotten, you've lived all these years in unthankfulness
to God, suffer. Don't you? You deserve that.
Christ did it, instead of John. Now picture the scene, and I'll
quit. After Abraham tied those hands
together, Embraced that boy, hugged him
one more time. They know he did. And laid him
on that altar. Abraham changed from a loving father. And down that boy, they put him
on an altar. And his countenance changed. That night, he turned from the
father to the sacrificer. And Isaac could have hollered,
my dad, my dad. What are you going to do? I must. But God. Woo, Abraham heard that voice
before, hadn't he? Oh man, he's never so glad to
hear that voice again. Here I am! Here I am! Here I
am! Abraham, the angel of the Lord
called unto him. Here am I. Verse 12. He said,
Don't touch the boy. Don't do anything to him. That's
it. Don't touch. Hide no hair of
him. Don't harm him one bit. Now I know that thou fearest
God. See, thou hast not withheld thy
son, thy only son from me." Abraham turned around, and Abraham lifted up his eyes,
and behold, behold, the Lamb of God, which
takes the place of his Isaac. beheld in the thicket caught
by his horns was a ram. A ram. God said, take the ram,
Abraham, and kill him in the stead of your son. Oh, my. What do you think he
did? I'll do it tomorrow when I've got time. Oh, man. My boy's going to die unless
I have a substitute. Oh, he's got a hold of that ram,
doesn't he? Do you reckon there's any turning loose? Any way to
get that ram out of Abraham's hand? Oh, he turned his boy loose
first, cut him loose for, and I bet you Isaac got a hold of
it later. Abraham got his front feet, isn't
he? Got him in a headlock. Isaac got on his rear feet and
said, I'm not going to let him go. This is my life. Isaac said, this is my life.
I'm not going to live unless this lamb dies. Abraham said,
my boy, I won't live unless this lamb dies. And they bound him
on the altar. How many times? Square knot,
double knot, square knot, flip knot. Died him on the altar. And Abraham took that knife.
Oh, poor lamb. It pleased Abraham to kill that
lamb, that ram, and stabbed it through, and the boy went, hallelujah,
hallelujah. There's the lamb, dad. There's
the lamb, dad. I see it, son. We see it! God
has provided a lamb for a burnt offering. You didn't have to die. And people, that's just what
God did. But when God looked down on His
Son, and the wrath of God's justice
should have plunged in my breast and should have killed me. God
looked at His Son. God changed from a loving Father
to a just God who will by no means clear the guilt in. Christ
was made sin for me. He who knew no sin, that I might
go free. that you might go freighter cancelling. God took that knife and actually
killed his son. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him and make his soul a sacrifice for sin. At the end of the story, You know Abraham, it says back
in Hebrews 11, and you don't have to turn, but it says that
Abraham did this because he had counted
that God was able to raise Isaac from the dead, even if it killed
him. That's how he, the only way he could see that he's going
to have a seed and God's going to bless him through this son
of his. that God was able to raise him
from the dead. I want to kill him, but he's going to rise.
Somehow he's going to rise from the grave, and we're going to
come down that mountain, me and the boy, alive, alive. Oh, my. And Christ, though he
was killed three days later, he arose from the grave, arose
from the grave and seated, sat down at the right hand of the
majesty on high, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool.
And Abraham, verse fourteen, called the name of that place
Jehovah-Jireh. That is, the Lord will see. He'll
see to it. Some of you southerners, do you
ever hear your dad or somebody say that? But, Dad, how are we
going to do that? The Lord will see to it. He'll
see to it. He'll see to it. Lord will provide himself a man
Jehovah John. And you know Christ when it says
in the mouth of the Lord it shall be seen. Mount what? But I saw Mount Moriah and you
it shall be seen the glory of God. the holiness and righteousness
of God, the justice of God, the love of God, the mercy of God,
the grace of God, it shall be seen." What? All and in all,
Christ shall be seen on Mount Moriah, on Mount Calvary. It
shall be seen, that holy hill. And Christ summed it up with
this verse. In John 8, John chapter 8, the Lord was talking to those
old Pharisees. And we were trying to get to
God by their own filthy, silly works. Christ knew he was going
to take his blood. And they were counting on Abraham
and all that. And Christ summed it up. Listen
to this. Listen. Listen. Christ said this. He said, You're Father Abraham? They said, We'll be Abraham's
children. Abraham's our father. He said, Your father Abraham. Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it. And he was glad. He saw it. Abraham and Isaac came down that
mountain. singing about a substitute. Behold the Lamb. Worthy is the
Lamb. Abraham rejoiced to see my day.
Isaac rejoiced to see his day. And they saw it. And they were
mighty glad, weren't they? Substitution meant something
to Isaac, didn't it? It meant something to Isaac.
Whenever a preacher got up from that day forward, And Isaac was
in the audience. The preacher said, I'm going
to preach today on substitution. Isaac said, what would you say? I love that. I'm going to preach
on in the stadia, what God will do in the stadia. I love that. That's my favorite subject. That's
good news. Preach it loud. I love that. That's my life. I owe my life
to the substitute. All right. Brother Joe, come.