Genesis, the 22nd chapter, records
Abraham's greatest trial. The chapter begins after these
things, after all the other trials that he had been called upon
to endure according to the providence of God because trials don't come
by accident, they come on purpose. And I'll tell you, if we profess
faith in Christ, we may count on it that faith will be tested.
And it will be proven. Untested faith won't grow. It's like, I remember when David
Cotton was talking to me about having laid in the bed in the
hospital for days on end. You just, without any exercise,
your muscles kind of atrophy. You know, you have to keep them
active, keep them working, keep them moving. And that's sort
of the way it is with faith. Faith in order to grow, and I
want my faith to grow. Don't you want your faith to
grow? I wanna grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and I want my faith and confidence in Christ to be strengthened.
And if we pray, Lord, strengthen our faith, here's what we're
praying. Test us. Because that's how he
strengthens our faith. There are those in the world
who believe that once you become a child of God or once you become
a Christian, we've always been children of God for that matter,
but once you have been regenerated by the Spirit of God and believed
on the Lord Jesus Christ, there are some who say that life will
be a piece of cake for you then. You're not going to have any
more troubles. And I would direct their attention
to a man by the name of the Apostle Paul. He didn't know what difficulties
were till the Lord met him on the road to Damascus and unhorsed
him. And then he found out what persecution
was. He found out something about
the trial of his faith. And God is testing Abraham. This
is a trial of his faith. It's the greatest one in his
life. And the Lord is very deliberate
in the way, the Spirit of God is very deliberate in the way
he introduces this. In the second verse, and I'll
just draw your attention to this again, notice how it's almost
like the Spirit of God, he's pulling on the heart strings
of Abraham. Take now thy son, thine only Isaac. You see the word son is italicized. 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." The Lord goes right
to his heart. And I can, I try to imagine how Abraham
must have felt. To those of you who have sons, put yourself in his shoes, if
you can. Offer up your son whom you love,
you've been expecting him. Isaac was the promise of God
to him. And Isaac shall thy seed be called. A great nation is going to come
forth through Isaac. Not Ishmael, a great nation will
come forth through Ishmael, but it's not gonna be the promised
nation. And here the Lord tells Abraham,
offer him up as a burnt offering. That's not just killing. That's
kill him on an altar and burn his body till it's nothing left
but dust. What an overwhelming test of
his faith. It's the greatest trial that
God sent to him. But there's something even greater
in this chapter. This is not only a revelation
of Abraham's greatest trial, it's the greatest revelation
of the gospel of substitutionary grace that's set forth in the book
of Genesis and maybe all of the book of God. I'm sure that the Lord Jesus,
I'm as sure as I can be, that the Lord Jesus was referring
to this episode in the life of Abraham when he told the Jews,
your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. And that which Abraham was made
to realize even more clearly than ever before was the glorious
truth of salvation or deliverance by substitution. Of course, this chapter is full
of Christ. It's full of redemption, this
dispersion I read today, he said this chapter might well be called
the Gospel of Mount Moriah, and it could be called that. In fact, many, with good reason,
believe that Mount Moriah and Mount Calvary were the same place,
that this is the same location where the temple would be built
in the same location where our Lord Jesus Christ, the true Lamb,
would be offered as a sacrifice to God. Everything in the chapter
portrays God's great sacrifice, the heavenly Father's great sacrifice
of His dear Son in the place of sinners. We have before us
the faith of Abraham. And don't miss this, we also
have before us the faith of Isaac. They're examples of great faith. And God's wonderful purpose of
grace to sinners in Christ is set forth in Abraham's very confident
declaration to his son. Isaac heard his father tell the
two servants, Abide ye here with the last, and I and the lad will
go yonder and worship. You stay here, stay behind, And
I and the lad, I and Isaac will go yonder and worship. Worship. That registered with Isaac. And Isaac is carrying the wood
and he sees in his father's hand a knife and fire, a torch of some sort. And remembering what his father
had said, I and the land will go yonder and worship, he says
to his dad, Father, you have the knife, you have the fire,
I've got the wood, where is the land? And what a declaration is found
in verse 8. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. God will provide the lamb, and God the son will be the lamb
that will be provided. And he was contented. That satisfied
him. So they went both of them together. And then saying that God will
provide himself a lamb, he is presenting a prophecy of the
coming of the Lamb of God. John the Baptist identified him
as such, right? Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. When Abraham said, God will provide
himself a lamb, Isaac found peace and comfort in that. And we know that Abraham was
referring to something that would happen, somebody who would come
and who would be offered as a sacrifice upon this very mountain way off
many years in the future. That's when he saw Christ's day and he rejoiced. What a man of faith! What a man
of confidence! And yet the faith that he had
and the confidence he had was really, it didn't come from within
him, it was a gift of God. Abraham was, if I could put it
this way, by the spirit of prophecy, saying to Isaac and saying to
all of us, as God provided a substitute and a sacrifice for Isaac, so
he will provide a substitute and a sacrifice for all of his
covenant people of all ages. He will provide for us. And thank
God He did. Thank God He did. And I would tell you, I remind
you that the same God who provided a ram to die in the stead of
Isaac, and the same God who provided Christ the Savior to die in the
stead of all of God's chosen people. He is the same God today
who is with us and who will never leave us and he will never forsake
us. In the hour of Abraham's greatest
need, When there seemed to be no possible
resolution to this situation, he still was ready to carry it
out. And that's when the Lord appeared
to him in the mount. Turn with me, hold your place
here and turn with me to Hebrews 11. Hebrews 11. Just make a, Another point or
two and then I want to move on. But look at Hebrews 11, 17. Aren't you thankful for the gift
of faith? We don't have it in ourselves. It's not as an ember in our heart
and it just needs fanning a little bit. We're destitute of faith. We're destitute of repentance. These are gifts of God. And God
who gives faith, strengthens faith. Are you there? Hebrews 11, 17, by faith Abraham,
when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son. And that puts you
immediately in mind of God the Father giving his only begotten
son. In verse 18, of whom it was said
that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God
was able to raise him up even from the dead. And from whence also he received
him in a figure." You see, Abraham, he did not
hesitate. He's going to go through with
this, believing the Word of God, that in Isaac shall thy seed
be called. human reasoning would go this
way, well, if I kill Isaac, that ends the promise. That ends the hope of a glorious
nation. But Abraham just believed God. Oh, if we just had faith to embrace
the promises of God, how much happier we'd be, how much joyful
we would, how much greater joy we would have and peace and comfort. And I don't know about you, but
you know, Paul in Hebrews talks about the sin that doth so easily
beset us. Remember reading about that?
I think it's lack of faith. Who among all of us here tonight,
and you who are watching, who among any of us could say, I
believe God like I ought to? And who among all of us would
not say, oh God, increase my faith? to believe your word,
just the naked, open word of God. I struggle with this. I'll just
be honest with you. I struggle with this. But Jim,
you're a preacher. I know I'm a preacher, but I'm
a sinner saved by grace, and I struggle with this matter of
believing God more. Why the doubts? Why the fears,
Jim? when God has clearly made all
of these promises in His Word to us. And the Word of God rebukes
me for my lack of faith and rebukes you as well. I would say to all of us, he
that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. All to believe him more. You see, the name of our God
is Jehovah Jireh. He is worthy of absolute trust
and confidence. The Lord Jehovah, He is our strength,
He is our preserver, He is our provider. Let this truth be firmly fixed
in your heart God's provision for Abraham and Isaac typified
the far greater provision of God's grace, whereby all of his
elect were delivered from sin and the penalty of sin, which
is death, and we shall inherit everlasting glory through the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior. Now Jehovah Jireh, it has three
meanings. First of all, it means these
words, Jehovah Jireh mean the Lord will see. That's what it
means, the Lord will see. And secondly, this title of Jehovah,
Jehovah Jireh means the Lord will provide. And then thirdly,
Jehovah Jireh means the Lord will be seen. Let me just touch
on these three things real quick. Number one, Jehovah Jireh means
the Lord will see. You see, this title of God, this
title of Jehovah tells us that the Lord will always see our
needs. He saw our need from old eternity
of a Savior. The fall and the resulting depravity
of even His elect people, God saw that. God ordained that. And He came to our rescue even
before time ever began. The Lord saw our need and he
had the covenant of grace, which was an eternal covenant, to meet
that need. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was already an appointed Savior. Before there was a naked
sinner, there was already an appointed garment of righteousness,
the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. Surely if ever Abraham saw Christ's
day, it was here. It was here. And he recognized that the Lord
would see, see our neediness and come to the rescue. The Lord
saw Abraham put Isaac on the altar. He saw. And the Lord who ordained that
Abraham lay his son on the altar to offer him as a burnt offering,
the God who saw, met the need. And the God who saw our dilemma,
our great neediness. There's no way we could ever
fully comprehend the greatness of our need before God. We needed
everything and we had nothing. And when we had nothing and God
had everything, He gave His Son who is everything to us. He's
all things to us. In Him, we have righteousness.
In Him, we have forgiveness. In Him, we have life more abundantly. Jehovah means the Lord will see. The Lord will see. He saw us
in our need. And he provided for all of that
need in Christ. And just when it appeared Isaac
was going to die, the Lord stepped in to deliver. And just when it seemed that
we were going to die, when God the Spirit began to
convict us. We began to see our sins and
what sin deserves. Sin when it's finished bring
it forth to death. When we were made to realize
the penalty, the wages of our sin. When we were disturbed in
our hearts and the Spirit of God had rocked our world and
shook us as it were. It was then, it was then that
God the Spirit said, Behold the Lamb of God. And our hearts were
broken and filled with joy as we saw our Savior by faith taking
our place. Wonder how Isaac felt when Abraham said, son, there's a
ram caught in the thicket over there. And he cut the ropes loose. I bet you he did it with tears
running down his cheeks, don't you? Son, you're free. You're free because our God,
Jehovah Jireh, he has seen this whole situation and he has mercifully
supplied the need. Son, there's a substitute gonna
die in your stead and I bet he preached the gospel to Isaac.
Said, son, this is a picture of the Lamb of God who's coming
someday. And just when it seemed like
the ropes had been tied around us and we were on the altar and
the sacrificial knife was raised against us and the fire of hell
seemed to rage in our hearts, said, we're going to get you
then, then the gospel of substitution came to us in great joy. And we realized somebody took
our place. And the justice of God, finding
that suitable substitute who bore our sins in his own body
on the tree, the justice of God said, lay not thine hand upon
the lad, upon the sinner. God provided when the need presented
itself. And so we read, in due time,
Christ died for the ungodly. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. Secondly, Jehovah Jireh means
the Lord will provide. If he sees our need, the provision
is sure. Do you really believe that God
sees your need? Do we really believe that? Or do we sometimes think like
David did? There is an honesty about the
writers of scripture that is refreshing. Why art thou so far from me? Lord, I cry to you in the daytime,
the night season. It's like you don't hear me.
Do you ever feel that way? Lord, do you see what's going
on? How I hurt? The pain, the sickness, the heartache,
whatever it is. I tell you, God provides for
our needs freely. You see, God's provision upon
Mount Moriah was free, free to both Abraham and Isaac. It was
a ram. It was not a provision of Abraham. He didn't know there was a ram
out there. But God made the provision. He
directed a ram to get caught in the thicket by its horns.
What about that? And I'm telling you what, if
you have a need and God's going to meet it, He can cause a ram
to be caught by its horns in the thicket for you too. Just believe the Lord. Believe
that he will do that which is best for you and best for me. I'll tell you this, God's provision
is always the very need, the very provision that is needed. And the provision for our souls
is provided by God himself. Where shall redemption be found
for me? Where shall a ransom be found
to be paid for me? It shall be found by God himself. And I'll tell you something about
God's provision. That which he provides takes care of everything. My debt's paid. My sins are washed
away. Perfect righteousness is imputed
to me. At every need that I have, God
sees, and God provides in His time
and in His way. For I must always remember my
Lord knows far better than I do exactly what I need. I can't see what the next moment's
going to bring. But the Lord sees my whole life. He's already mapped it out. He
did so in eternity. From the time of my conception
in my mother's womb to the time that I draw near and then come
to the end of the line for my earthly existence. It's all an
open book to God because He's ordained, He's predestinated
everything. And I need not fear. I need not
doubt His presence. I need not question the things
that He brings into my life. He's Jehovah Jireh. And he will provide as the needs arise according
to his will. And the last thing is Jehovah
Jireh means the Lord will be seen. I'll tell you, he was seen in
the Mount of Sacrifice, Mount Calvary. He will be seen in the
gospel of Christ, our crucified Savior. Go often in your mind and in
your heart to Mount Calvary. That's where you'll see the Lord. He will be seen also in the mount
of your triumph. Your trials may seem severe. Maybe I'm talking to somebody
who's, you're in deep waters, as it were. But do not despair. In your greatest trial, the Lord
will be seen. Because the Lord is always with
his people. The gift of the Lord Jesus Christ
as our substitute is the provision, listen to this, that actually
it secures all of the other provisions, right? If God has given us his
son, then what would he ever withhold
from us? He's given us the greatest gift
they could ever give us. He's not gonna forsake us, and
he'll never leave us. Jehovah Jireh. The Lord will
be seen to always be faithful. Don't doubt him. Things may not
go the way we would like for them to go, But be encouraged in this, things
will go exactly as your Heavenly Father would have them to go. Lord, strengthen our faith, our
confidence that we would trust and never
doubt. And we're thankful there's forgiveness
with the Lord when we don't believe Him like we ought to. I'm thankful for the blood of
Christ, aren't you? 212.