22nd chapter. And the title of this, this evening,
is The Lord Will Provide. It's been a long time since I've
dealt with Genesis 22. We did it when we went through
Genesis, but I told you I'm going to preach on Wednesday nights
on Old Testament pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is surely, surely one of the greatest pictures you'll find
of the Lord Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. And Genesis 22 records the greatest
trial that Abraham ever had and the greatest revelation of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ at the same time. Our Lord told
the Jews, He said, Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it. He not only rejoiced
to see it, but he saw it. He saw it. He saw it. And you know, Genesis 22 is full
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it told Him to take Him to
a mount in Moriah. And a lot of commentators and
people believe that Mount Moriah was Mount Calvary in the New
Testament where the Lord Jesus Christ died. Now I couldn't say
that for sure, but that's what they say. But this chapter begins,
look what the first thing it says here in the first verse. And it came to pass after these
things, Everything always comes to pass, but he said, after these
things. That is to say, after nine or
ten great trials that Abraham had. The Jews say that Abraham
had ten great trials. Here in chapter 21, he had a
great trial, two of them. And Abraham was called on to
endure the greatest, greatest trial of all that He would ever
go through. And that's the sacrifice of His
only Son, the only Son. And our sovereign God, and God
in His sovereignty, does all things as He has purposed to
do. And He always does it in due
time. In due time, Christ died for the ungodly. He does it in
the fullness of time. Nothing does not happen except
when it's supposed to, exactly when it's supposed to. And this
was Abraham's time for a great fight. And after these things,
he said, after these things, after the fall of our father
Adam, after the flood that destroyed the human race, after the exodus
when God brought Israel out of Egypt, after the tabernacle that
God established for the place of worship after the prophets,
after the kings. And it pleased God Himself to
fulfill every promise, to fulfill every prophecy, and to set up
every pattern in the sacrifice of His only begotten Son. And
everything that happened in the Old Testament Everything, every
prophecy, every pattern, every promise, every picture was pointing
to the sacrifice of His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. All that had begun before, pictured,
Genesis chapter 3, pictured the Lord Jesus Christ being crucified. And you know it had pointed to
that hour. that special time, that blessed
time, when our Lord Jesus Christ would die on a cross. To Him,
Acts 10, 43 says, to Him all the prophets did witness. And
our Lord Jesus told His disciples, after He had risen from the dead,
He sat down and He ate with them, and He talked to them. And he
began to give them open their understanding and taught from
the Scriptures, from the Old Testament, from Moses, from the
Psalms, from the prophets, all things concerning himself. And so this is what we're talking
about here, that after these things, God used all these things
to teach us about his blessed Son. And look in verse 2, God
said, after these things that God did tempt Abraham, or try
Abraham. And Abraham said, I'm here, I'm
here. Now look what he said. And he
says, take now, take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou
lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, And offer him
therefore a burn offing upon one of the mountains, which I
will tell you." You know when you take the words of this verse,
you just take them, break it down, word by word, you know
what it does? It reveals the greatness of the
gift. Take now thy son, thine only
son, whom thou lovest." What a gift! What a gift! And the love that was behind
it. Take thy son whom thou lovest. And did the agony that was endured
through it. Can you imagine the grief of
Abraham when God told him to do this? His heart began to breathe. God just told me to take my son,
take my only son, and then offer him. And can you imagine the
sorrow he suffered as he thought about his son dying at his own
hand? Oh, the great, great, great love
that was revealed in His willingness to God Almighty to give His Son,
Isaac. And the Supreme, oh, what a sacrifice
was involved in this. The greatest sacrifice that a
man could possibly ever give. And God told him to do it. But
look what He says. He said, Take thy son. Take thy
son, not somebody else's son. Take yours. And the Lord Jesus
Christ, He's the Son of God. And take thine only Son. You've only got one. Take thine only Son. Is our Lord
Jesus Christ not called the only begotten Son of God? And then take Him Who thou lovest? Who you love? You as the life
of your mother and your daddy. They've rejoiced in you. And
God said, this is my beloved son. And he's called the son
of God's love in Colossians. And then it says there, offer
him, offer him for a burnt offering. And our Lord Jesus Christ, bless
His name, He became our burn offering. He became our sin offering. He became our sacrifice by the
will of His Father. Our Lord said, this commandment
have I received from my Father. No man takes my life from me.
I lay it down and no man takes it from me. I have the power
to let down, I have the power to take it up again. And I tell
you, beloved, God was pleased to bruise his blessed son. You're
talking about taking a son. God took a son, his only begotten
son. And no one can love like God
does. And no one can love like Christ
loves. and the love that they had for
one another, and the love that they had for His elect people,
and the love that He had for His chosen ones. Why? Tell me why! And He, our Lord Jesus Christ, by
God's blessed will, was pleased to boot Him. and make his soul
an offering for sin and then look what God said you go and
the one of the mountains that I'm going to tell you about I'm
going to tell you about it I'm going to tell you about it and
then they Christ they took him out to a place called Calvary
now look here in verse 3 and 4 look what it says and Abraham
rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass and took
two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he claved
the wood." That means he split the wood, broke the wood up,
claved it, split it, so he could carry it. "...for the burnt offering,
and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place of our home. Now picture
this. It took them three days to get
where they were going. Three days. Three full days. Can you imagine what was going
through Abraham's mind for those three days? Oh my, and he had not told Isaac
what was going to happen to him. Isaac did not know. They traveled
by day, and the burden that was up on his heart, can you imagine?
How his imagination and his thoughts, every time he looked at his son,
he'd probably get tears in his eyes. And then they'd lay down
to go to sleep at night. You reckon he slept very much
when he thought about his son? I've got to take my own son,
my only son. And they journeyed through the
days and slept through the night. And the burden and the sacrifice
lay upon his heart. And oh, listen to this, God in
His eternal purpose, He foreordained, He purposed the sacrifice of
His blessed Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And He didn't do it for
three days. He didn't do it for three thousand
days. But He purposed the death of
His Son before the foundation of the world. He was a lamb slain
before the foundation of the world. God chose us in Him. And when you think about the
love, what love! God, before the world began,
had His Son as a lamb slain. And He loved us before the foundation
of the world. And what grace, what grace was
involved in it? Huh? And oh my, you're talking
about a sure and a certain promise we have in our Lord Jesus Christ
and in God's eternal purpose? We're saved on purpose. Abraham went to that mountain
with a purpose. to do the will of God. Christ
went on purpose. God's purpose. And we were saved
on purpose. God's eternal purpose. And that
purpose has never changed. And never will change. God said,
I am the Lord. I change not. Huh? He says the gifts and calling
of God are without repentance. He will change his mind about
us. If he was ever going to change his mind about us, he'd have
done that long ago. First time out, I made a mess
out of everything. And none of you knew about it,
never saw it. He said, I've done. But that's not the way God does.
Oh, bless his name. He don't do that. So Abraham
had them three things. God had Christ as our lamb before
the foundation of the world. Look now down here in verse 5
and 6. He said, Oh, my. Abraham saw that place afar off.
He said, Oh, my, I've got to go there. Oh, I've got to go
way up there. And that was on his heart and
so heavy, I'm sure. And Abraham said unto his young
man, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. He's going to go worship. He
said, me and my son, we're going to go worship. We're going to
go up there to worship. And he said, we're going to come
at the end of the year. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering
and laid it upon Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hands
and a knife. Isaac carried the wood Abraham
had the fire in his hands, and his sister, and a knife, and
they went both of them together. Now Abraham carefully, carefully
prepared all that was involved in this sacrifice. He claimed
the wood, he got the wood, he sharpened his knife, and he had
some fire. He prepared for it. He was ready
for it. And what are we going to say
about our great, glorious, and blessed God, who so wondrously
prepared, predestinated, and foretold all the events that
would ever happen? and told all people of all nations and behind every action of the
greatest event that would ever happen in time. Everything before the cross pointed
to the cross. Everything since the cross goes
back to the cross. That's the greatest event that
ever happened in this world. And God, do you think God just
didn't, do you think He just got up one day and said, listen,
I'm going to figure out a way to save some people? No! If Abraham
was so careful to prepare for this sacrifice of his son, what
about God preparing for the sacrifice of His blessed Son? How many
times did He tell us in the Old Testament? How many times did
He tell us about His Son? How many names did He give Him?
How many titles did they give him? How much glory did the prophets
bring to him? And oh my, the greatest sin of
all time, the death of his blessed son. You keep Genesis 22. Look over here in Acts, Acts
chapter 4. Oh listen. God did this. God pointed to
the greatest event that would ever happen. And look here in Acts chapter
4 verse 27. For of a truth, verse 26 says,
the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ, for of a
truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people
of Israel, were gathered together." Now listen. For to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined it for to be done." You know
what he's saying? They're doing what I told them
to do. And they didn't know that that's what they're doing. But they did it, that they're
doing what I determined to be done. Oh, listen, God had all
this purposed out. And so Abraham commanded his
servants to remain. Y'all stay down here. And the
Father and the Son went up that mountain together and went up
that mountain alone together. And I tell you what, you know
why it was just the Father and the Son? Because redemption and
salvation is the work of the Father and the Son. That's got
to be both of them. It's got to be both. Now the
Father's got to be involved in it, and the Son's got to be involved
in it. The Father's got to be the one
to slay the Son, but the Son's got to be willing to be slain.
And so this thing of salvation, this salvation thing of redemption,
got to be by both of them. They went together. And the Scriptures
tells us that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ was under the wrath of God and
in the hands of God Himself. And why was He in the hands of
God? Why was He under the wrath of God? For our sins. For our sins. He was acquainted with grief
and sorrow. And when we looked at him and
saw that grief and sorrow, we esteemed him. God struck him. He was stricken with God. He was smitten with God. But
why was he acquainted with grief and sorrow? Why was he smitten? Why was he afflicted with death?
Because he was wounded for high transgressions. bruised, bruised
for our iniquity. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, and the Lord, the Lord, the Father, laid hold still
the iniquity of His Father. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ, when they had the Passover, there
was twelve witnesses. When He went to the garden, eleven
went with Him. And when He went off to pray,
only three went with Him. But when He went to the cross,
He went by Himself. He by Himself. Perfect by Himself. And isn't He by Himself, didn't
He? And He still does not need anybody's help to do anything. And I want to show you, and look
in John, I think, let me make sure I've got this right. Look
in John 17, 19, about that wood there laid on Isaac. Look in
John 17, 19. I want to make sure I've got
this right. Talking about 1917, excuse me, not 1719, 1917. Look
what it says here, John 1917, and he's bearing his cross. What? He's bearing
his cross. He went forth into a place called
the Place of the Stone. There they crucified him. He
had to carry his own cross. You know, you see people out
carrying crosses sometimes. When he was down in Florida,
I was talking about a fellow, and I've seen them do it here
in Crossville. They carry a cross, but they got a big wheel on the
back of it. It ain't got no weight to it.
It's got a big wheel on the back of it, and they walk around with
that cross. You know what that tells me?
They absolutely know nothing about the cross and the death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? God won't do that. And oh my, look here in verse
7 and 8. And they went both of them together.
Oh, I love that. They went both of them together.
Father and the Son. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father. And says, My father. And he said,
Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold the fire
and the wood. But where is the lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And here it
says again, So they went both of them together. Here they start. They start walking
up that mountain. And they're walking up that mountain
to offer a sacrifice. They're walking up that mountain
to worship God. That's what they're going up
there for. That's what He said, I am the Lamb who go in yonder
and worship. And so as they walked along,
Isaac said to his dad, he said, Father, That I've got this wood And you've got a knife and you
got fire in your hand So we're going up here to worship I want
to know Where is the lamb when we get there that we're going
to offer for a sacrifice? We got everything we need for
a sacrifice But where in the world is that lamb? I? We got
everything but we don't have a lamb. Why in the world would Isaac
ask such a question as that? I'll give you two reasons. First,
he knew God. He knew God was holy, he knew
God was righteous, he knew God was just, and he knew God would
must punish sin and that there had to be a blood shedding to
do that. And the second thing is, he knew
that man was evil, wicked, and sinful, and without hope, without
a sacrifice. He knew that. He knew those things. He knew God. Man, he knew how
guilty he was and how sinful he was. And he knew that there
could be no acceptance, no forgiveness. There could be no communion between
God and man. Without a blood shedding, without
a blood, without an offering, without a sacrifice. No wonder
God said, when I see the blood, what are you going to do, Lord? I'm going to jump over you. I'm
going to pass over you. I'm not going to inflict death
on you. Why not? Because I see the evidence
of blood on the door. I see the evidence of death already
inflicted here. Look at the door. Look at the
little. Look at the post. Death's already
fitted in this house. Where at? In that lamb. In that lamb. And I tell you
what, beloved, and I'll tell you something else that Isaac
knew. He knew about Cain. He knew that Cain had come with
the works of his own hands. And he was justly condemned and
justly punished. And Abraham, the answer that
he gave him, Isaac, is one of the most blessed and most glorious
prophecies that you'll ever hear in all the Bible. He said, look
what he says. He didn't say, My son. He said,
God. That's the first thing He started.
That's what the first, as we start with God, in the beginning.
He said, God. God will provide Himself a land. A land. And oh, let's look at
this thing. This says God will provide Himself. Himself. as the Lamb. The Lord will provide Himself,
a Lamb for Himself, for Himself as the Lamb. And thy Lord Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, is God. That was on that cross. And the
second thing is, said the Lord will provide for Himself a Lamb,
for Himself. God has to be satisfied. Huh? God's been offended by sinful
man. So the blood has to be shed for
Him and for Him to satisfy Him, to honor Him, so that God could
be just and justify Him. So if that lamb, He said, I'll
provide a lamb, and if that lamb dies, then I'll be just and punish
the lamb for the sins, and then I'll be just to do that. And then if you look to that
lamb and look to that blood and trust that lamb and trust that
blood and work in that blood, then I'll justify you." Huh? Oh my! He's going to provide
Himself, Christ is God, the Lamb of God. God's got to provide
here for Himself. And then the Lord is going to
provide it. He provides it. Now what does
that mean? That it's going to be done. If He said, I'm going to provide
one, the rest of you will. And you know what it is? He said,
I'm going to provide. and whatever it takes to redeem
my sheep, to save my sheep, to bring my sheep to myself. I'm
going to honor my law. I'm going to bring satisfaction
to my justice. I'm going to fulfill the covenant. And I'm going to bring eternal
glory to my blessed son." And it was accomplished in full. Now, redemption is accomplished
in full. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. God saw that prevail to be sold
and was satisfied. Christ is the fulfillment of
that covenant. And when that God's blessed Son
and His eternal glory accomplished in full, and nothing, nothing
will be left undone that needs to be done. When our Lord Jesus
Christ said, it is finished, I can say it is with one, two,
three, four, five exclamation points. It is finished. Boy, you use a lot of exclamation
points. That's something to exclaim about, ain't it? Oh my, the Lord's gonna provide
us what we need, what we need. And then look what it said here
in verse 9. And they came to the place. Oh,
Christ came to the cross. Christ came to the place. Came to the hour. Came to the
place. Which is called Calvary. And
they came to the place which God had told them of. They got
up on that mountain. And Abraham built an altar there. It took some time for him to
do that. It took some time for him to do that. All the time
he's building that office, he's thinking about what's going to
happen, what's going to happen, what's going to happen. And then
when he got that, he laid the wood in order, laid it, laid
it down. And then he took his son, his
son lay down here, pounded, pounded down, pounded down. And Abraham wrecked back his
hand with that sharp, sharp, sharp knife. I'll tell you one
thing he wasn't going to do. He wasn't going to stab him in
the heart. He wasn't going to stab him in the
heart. There's only one way there to free land, and that's to live
in the fields. And Abraham took forth, stretched
forth his hand and took the knife and slayed his son. In the name
of the Lord. I, himself, called out of heaven.
Oh, and a voice come down from heaven, said to Abraham. Meek called
his name and cried, Abraham! Abraham! I want your attention. And he said, I'm here, I'm here.
He said, put that knife down. Put that knife down. Don't lay
your hand upon the lad. Don't do anything unto him. For
now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not
withheld thy son, thy only son from me. You know, Isaac did
not resist the will of his father. He wasn't a little boy. He was probably 20 years old,
maybe 21. He wasn't 12 or 13 years old.
He was a grown man. But as Isaac did not resist the
will of his father, he lay down on that altar. And our Lord Jesus
Christ was willing and obedient unto death, even to death to
the cross. Listen, Christ could not have
come, our Lord Jesus could not have been erected, could not
have been bound to the tree, could not have died, except He
was willing and would please the Father to do it. Now here's where the type of
Isaac, as a type of Christ, changes right there. Verse 13, stop it, you know,
don't kill him. That's where the pipe stopped,
right there. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked. And behold, behind him a ram
caught in a thicket by a thorn. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
father. See, Christ was offered in our
stead. So God provided. He said he was going to provide
one. Well God did. He got up there. Get ready to do it. God said don't do it. And he
lifted up his eyes. Somebody left the gate open and
a ram got out and went up that mountain. So he caught that ram. And he laid that ram down. And
Isaac got up and went away. And because Christ was put in
our place, we get up and walk away. He said, I and the lad
are going to come again as we worship. And him and his son
walked right down there. That ram pictures Christ, our
sacrifice. And I want to show you one thing
in Hebrews 11, and I'll be done. Hebrews 11. You just got to see
this. I think I remember where it's
at. Hebrews 11. Yeah, verse 17. Look here. This is such a blessing
to close this out with. 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, of whom it was
said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. Now listen to
this, accounting, believing that God had, he slew him, accounting
that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which
he also received him in a tithe in that land that was put in
his place. He said, if I do all things,
that's why he said I'm the land owner, all the promises that
God made me is in my son. And if I slay him, God's gonna
raise him back up because we're going back down off this mountain.
Because God made all these promises in him. And that's the way it
is with his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All the promises are
in Christ. And he died, and he was buried,
and he'd come up again. God raised
him from the dead. Well, I hope that's a blessing
to you. I hope that is.