Well, as I said, it's a familiar
passage, Genesis 22, Abraham being willing to go and to sacrifice
his son Isaac. A familiar passage to very many,
but not to all, and to younger ones. I did toy with the idea
of skipping this and moving on to something else, but no, I
thought, no, there's a message here that many might not have
heard. and it needs to be heard, because
it's so full of the gospel. And when I say the gospel, I
mean this. The gospel is how God upholds his righteousness,
divine righteousness and justice, and yet justifies sinners. He justifies, declares righteous
those who by nature are unrighteous. He declares qualified and fit
for heaven, eternity, those who are by nature condemned to hell. That is the gospel of God's grace,
that God might be just. Romans 3.26, that God might be
just, and the justifier a just God and a saviour. You say, well
how can he be? The two are incompatible. Let
God be just, he must punish sin. No, that he might be just and
yet justify those that deserve condemnation. The justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. You say, why is this relevant
to me? You who don't believe, who might
listen to this today, why is this relevant to me? Let me give
you just a couple of scriptures. Hebrews 9.27, it is appointed
to man, that's you and me, to die once. You can't deny that,
can you? And then, the judgment. And as
we approach that day of judgment, there is one question that ought
to burn in your minds. How should a man be just with
God? That's Job. It's a couple of
times in the book of Job, but 9.25 is one of them. How should
a man be just with God? Because before I reach that throne
of God, which I must do, we must all stand, says 2 Corinthians
5.10, we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ when
we die to receive. the due reward of the things
done in the body, the sins done in the body. How are we going
to survive if we're not just? How should a man be just with
God? In the gospel of His grace. Because on that day, on that
day of judgment, there will be a multitude which no man can
number who will hear the blessed words, come ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And there will be very, very, very many who will
hear the dreadful words, Depart from me, I never knew you. Depart
from me, I never knew you. Let's think about the background
to where we are. The account of Abraham begins
in, well, the end of Genesis 11, but then in Genesis 12, verse
1, God calls Abraham to come out from his culture in Ur of
the Chaldees, his idolatrous culture, prosperous culture,
rich culture, to come out and go to a land that he wouldn't
own, he wouldn't own any part of it, but God promised it to
his descendants, to go and go out believing and following what
God said. And no sooner had he got there
than he's tested with a great famine. Is this the place that
God told me to come to? There's a great famine. So rather
than trust God, this man who is weak in the flesh, nevertheless,
nevertheless, given faith, this man who is weak in the flesh
goes down into Egypt. You know, Egypt is always the
symbol of this world, away from the things of God. because there
there is food. He goes down into Egypt and in
fear he lies about Sarah being his sister and not his wife.
In a way she was, she was a relative, a cousin, that kind of thing,
so in a way she was his sister. But nevertheless he lied, he
didn't trust God. This one who was credited with
being the man of faith that is the father of all who have faith.
And then God makes a promise to him that though Sarah is barren,
they have no children of their own, that she would have a son.
But they're getting old, and they get older and older, and
the years go on. All the time, Abraham has been
shown by God the way to the tree of life. Remember the end of
Genesis, chapter 3, verse 24, there is the way to the tree
of life. Adam and Eve are expelled from
Eden, but there is the way to the tree of life. And how is
it? through a lamb that is slain. A lamb that is slain is the way
to the tree of life. Picture in Christ the seed of
the woman promised in Genesis 3.15. The seed of the woman who
would come and redeem his people from the curse of the law, from
their sins. He would crush Satan's head. He would have his heel
bruised by Satan in the process, but he would crush Satan's head.
And then we see pictures such as in chapter 14 as we saw last
week with Melchizedek bringing bread and wine. This is Christ
bringing that which is necessary for redemption, broken bread,
broken body, this is my body which is broken for you, and
this is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, shed for many.
that bread and wine speaking of the broken body and the shed
blood of Christ which accomplishes salvation. Then in the next chapter,
15, there's the sacrifice. We haven't read it. You need
to read it for yourself, but God speaks to Abraham. It's where
God promises to be Abraham's exceeding great reward. He promises
again the son who would come, his own son. He promises that
to him and he shows him redemption. in a sacrifice, and a burning
furnace, and all of this in a vivid picture to Abraham. He sees the
truth of saving grace, of redemption accomplished by a substitute.
He sees it in the sacrifice but he has fleshly doubt, he and
Sarah have fleshly doubt regarding the promise of a son. And so
Sarah gives Hagar, the servant girl, the Egyptian servant girl,
to Abraham and he has a child, he has a son by Hagar, Ishmael,
But the promise is confirmed, that no, in Isaac shall your
seed be. And Isaac is born in Genesis
chapter 21, after several events with Lot and Sodom and Gomorrah
and all those things. But Isaac is born in chapter
21, and Hagar and Ishmael have to be
cast out. They have to be. It's not a lesson
in how to treat servants and others, it is a picture. As we
read in Galatians, you know, in Galatians chapter 4, the end
of it, it's an allegory, it's a picture that that which represents
legal bondage, Hagar and Ishmael, cannot be heirs with Isaac. Isaac is the true heir. And so
all of that is done, all of that is done, and it came to pass,
chapter 22 verse 1, it came to pass after these things. You would think, all his problems
are over, you know, he's learned not to tell lies about Sarah,
he's The son of promise has been born, as God said he would be.
All of the distractions of Hagar and Ishmael are gone. The situation
with Lot is resolved. He's out of Sodom. Sodom and
Gomorrah are destroyed. You'd think it was happy days,
wouldn't you? You would think it was the end
of Abraham's troubles. But after these things, all of
those things, God did tempt, or the word really is test. God doesn't, you read in James,
God doesn't tempt. God doesn't tempt. God tests. He tried Abraham and said unto
him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here I am. He said, take now
thy son, thine only Isaac. I'm missing out son, which is
in italics because it's not in the original. Abraham had Ishmael
as another son. Isaac was not the only son to
the exclusion of all others, but he was the only Isaac. the
only one in whom God had promised the seed would come, the seed
of the woman in whom redemption would be accomplished, would
come from the line of Isaac. In Isaac shall your seed be,
whom thou lovest. Take Isaac, whom you love, how
he loved, how he must have loved. He's a hundred years old when
he was born. Sarah, 90 years old. How he must have loved this
son born out of due time, such a Such a confirmation, affirmation
of the promise of God that is anything too difficult for God?
Is anything? No, nothing is too difficult
for God. God rules over all and Isaac had been born. Take this
son Isaac whom you love and take him to the land of Moriah and
offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which
I will tell thee of. This is a test of faith in God,
isn't it? Abraham, the man of faith, the
father of all them who have true faith, this is a test of his
faith. Take that which is most dear
to you and kill it. Kill it. Sacrifice it. God didn't test him to see whether
he would or not. you know in the sense that God's
thinking now I've got this man and he's a pretty good man and
I'll put a trial before him just to see and I don't know at this
stage but I'll see whether he does as I tell him to do or not. No, God didn't do that, he didn't
do this to test whether Abraham would obey or not, that was just
incidental. but he did it to teach him gospel
truth, to reveal the accomplishment of his salvation, of all the
elect's salvation. by Christ. That's what he did,
to teach him that, to challenge his faith. Do you believe God? Do you really believe God? What
will you do to show that you really believe God? Jesus said
to his followers, he that loveth father or mother more than me
is not worthy of me. And he that loveth son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me. You would say if that was
a human, saying, if that was said by somebody human in this
life, anyone like the rest of us, you would say what a selfish,
self-centered statement. But this is God in Christ, saying
that he that loves a son more than me is not worthy of me. God must have the key place for
everything else to be right. You see, God in Christ In grace
and love for his elect, the multitude he chose in Christ before the
beginning of time, our God, in his grace and in his love for
his people, is worthy of the highest place. I love those,
there are programs on the television about winter walks and they've
been some lovely ones in Yorkshire and it's just nice just to sit
and watch the beautiful Yorkshire countryside go by for half an
hour with the bare trees, bare of leaves and just the lovely
scenery and there are lots of these very narrow old stone bridges
over rivers in Yorkshire and I love the design of them and
the fact that they were built hundreds of years ago The thing
I find fascinating is the capstone. Because right at the top of the
arch is a capstone which just fits between the two sides. And
in effect, the capstone holds the whole thing together. It
holds the whole structure together. Remove the capstone and the whole
bridge collapses. Remove God. from the life of
one who claims to be a believer and every other relationship
in life collapses. Every other relationship, husband,
wife, parents, children, relatives, colleagues, everything collapses.
That's why he who loves son or daughter more than me is not
worthy of me is so true when it's God. God demands everything,
and rightly, rightly. Proverbs 23 verse 26, my son,
listen, listen, my son, give me thine heart, give it to God,
all of it, your total affection, your total devotion. What would
you have me do, Lord? Where would you have me go? You
know, Paul, the apostle, Saul of Tarsus, breathing out fire
and venom against the church on the road to Damascus, and
he's struck by that blinding light which is the appearance
of Christ. Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom you persecute.
What would you have me to do, Lord? What would you have me...
Do you see that? Immediately, the venom and opposition
to the cause of Christ turns to, what would you have me to
do? He's given him his heart, hasn't he, already. My son, give
me thine heart. Isaac was the dearest thing in
the world to Abraham. He was his only Isaac, his only
Isaac. You know, you think about it.
Oh, we'll have another child. What? Sarah's 90 years old, Abraham's
100. Well, by this stage, no doubt
he's considerably older. No contingency. There's no contingency
at all. He's the one in whom God would
fulfill the promise. There's no other. You know, as
it says, take now thy son, thine only Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee to the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt
off, This one, so precious, so longed for, so much promised,
and the promise doubted and then confirmed. Why did Abraham comply? Abraham did it. He went. He got
up early the next morning and he got everything ready and he
went. Answer? He believed God. Abraham believed
God. How did he believe God? He was
given faith to believe God. That's the sovereign grace of
God. God in sovereign grace gave him faith to believe God. He
believed God. About what? About the kingdom
of God. He knew that the kingdom of this
world was not up for improvement. The kingdom of this world would
never be the kingdom for the people of God and the eternity
of God and the heaven of God. He believed in God regarding
his kingdom. He believed in God regarding
redemption from the curse of the law. that the justice of
God, the righteousness of God, justly condemned man for his
sin, and all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
and in Adam all die. He knew that. He believed God.
He believed God regarding the justification that he would accomplish
in the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He believed in
the eternal inheritance, of which Canaan was just a vague picture. He believed in the eternal inheritance
that God had for his people. I go to prepare mansions, and
if I go I will prepare a mansion, and if it were not so I would
have told you, said Jesus to his followers. He's there preparing
those mansions for his people. And Abraham accounted, as Hebrews
tells us, Paul in Hebrews chapter 11, 19 tells us, that he, Abraham,
accounted, reckoned, that God was able to raise Isaac up, even
from the dead. I'll go and do what God says,
but I know that God is able to raise him up from the dead. Is
anything too hard for God? He raised up Isaac from a dead
womb, a dead old woman's womb. He raised up Isaac from the seed
of a man who was a hundred years old. Is anything too hard for
God? He believed God. He accounted
that God was able to raise him up, even though he be dead. As Jesus said, to the sisters
of Lazarus in John chapter 11 when Lazarus died and he's in
the tomb and he said that if anyone believes in him, whosoever
believes in him, though he die, yet shall he live. So then they go, and there's
two of the young servants with them, to accompany them for protection,
for assistance on the way, and they set off towards Moriah,
and three days into their journey, they see, Abraham sees the place
afar off, verse 4. And Abraham said to the two young
men he'd taken with him, and the ass, he said, you stay here
while Isaac and I are going to worship. We're going to worship,
but you stay here. And so off they set. Abraham
takes the wood for the burnt offering, and he puts it on the
back of Isaac for him to carry it. And as they're going to the
final destination, Isaac says to Abraham, look, I can see that
you've got the fire, the fire had been kindled, and here's
the wood for the burnt offering, but where is the lamb? We need
a lamb, don't we? Where is the lamb? You see, Isaac
had been taught. You know, Adam taught his children,
when God taught him and Adam taught his children, and down
the godly line, that message, even though the majority rejected
it, but there was a godly line that called upon the name of
the Lord, and learned and knew that there was a way to the tree
of life. They'd been banished from Eden,
but there is a way to the tree of life. Jesus said, I am that
way, the truth, and the life. He is the way. He is the Lamb
of God. who would make atonement for
the sins of his people, who would pay redemption's price for the
sins of his people. The way to the tree of life was
only by a slain lamb who would make atonement. Isaac, picture, would signify
that which the true seed of the woman that was promised, which
was Christ, would actually accomplish. Isaac had been taught that God
could not be approached without a lamb to shed its blood and
die for sin. as a picture of the seed who
would come. They are going to worship. End
of verse 5. Sorry, yes, end of verse 5. I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. We're going to come back.
See, he says, he's confident. He knew that God would raise
him up from the dead. I and the lad will come back again. But
we're going now to worship. But if you're going to worship,
you must have a lamb. Do you seek to worship God this
morning? Do you seek to come before God
this morning and find acceptance in the sight of the God who upholds
all things by the word of His power, the God with whom we have
to do, the God who holds our very next breath in His hands?
Do you seek to worship before Him? You dare not come without
a Lamb. Who is the Lamb that we bring?
Of course, it's not an animal. Those pictures never could take
away sin. It's the Lamb of God that takes
away the sins of the world. It's the Lamb of God, the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Behold the Lamb of
God, said John the Baptist, pointing to Jesus. He is the Lamb of God
who will take away the sins of his people. He is the Lamb. There must be a Lamb to shed
its blood and die. Bless God, there is and he has. Christ our Passover is crucified
for us, is sacrificed for us. We are able to approach. We are
accepted in the Beloved because we come in Him, clothed in His
righteousness, sanctified by His holiness, made right with
God by the redemption that He has accomplished. Our sins are
taken away as far as the east is from the west. When that day
comes, when the books are opened, there will be no sins found against
the people of God, the elect of God, for they're all taken
away. For in Christ they've been taken away. For who shall lay
anything to the charge of God's elect? For it is Christ that
has died. He is the one that has shed his blood. Satan, the
accuser of the brethren, has nothing with which he can accuse
the people of God of sin, because they've been taken away. That
is why he's defeated. That is why he's cast out of
heaven. That is why he cannot any longer accuse the true people
of God. You see, God will provide is
the answer that Abraham gives to Isaac. Abraham said, verse
eight, Abraham said, my son, God will provide. Where's the
sacrifice? Where's the lamb for a sacrifice,
a burnt offering? God will provide himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. And so they went, both of them
together. God will, and God has. God has. God has provided himself
a lamb. He has. Effectively, what Abraham's
saying to Isaac is, when we get there, I'll show you what God
has said. He will make clear the lamb he
has provided. I don't doubt that Abraham had
explained to Isaac what God had told him to do, and how God would
raise Isaac up from the dead, even from the dead. And Isaac
willingly complied, because God gave him faith to see and believe.
He's the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, isn't he? That's
how he's called, many times. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob, believing God. Isaac believed God, and he willingly
complied. He was a strong young man. Some
suggest he might have been about 30 to 33 years old at this stage,
the age that Christ was when he died. But he was compliant
to the instructions of an aged man. Isaac carried the wood,
obviously out of respect for his father, but he was much stronger
than his father. He carried the wood there. Look
at verse 13. Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold
behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham went
and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in
the stead of his son. You see, God did provide. God will provide, God did provide. They believed God and they went
Isaac was compliant to his father's instructions, but exactly as
his father had said, God will provide himself a lamb, verse
13, he did provide a lamb. Think about this substitute sacrifice,
what a vivid picture of the Lord Jesus Christ we have here. You
know in verse 2, take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou
lovest, Our Lord Jesus Christ was the only begotten Son of
the Father. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased, he said on more than one occasion. Jesus
said that God gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but have everlasting life, his only
begotten Son. This was the true promised seed
of the woman, Genesis 3.15, of which Isaac was but a picture. Isaac was just a picture of Christ
who would come. He was unique in God's purposes. Christ was unique. No man comes
to the Father but by me. He was unique in God's purposes,
just as Isaac was unique to Abraham. He was his only Isaac. The son
had to be offered as a sin-debt payment. He had to be offered,
and it was pictured in Abraham slaying his son Isaac. God in
his spiritual essence as God, and I always feel like I'm treading
on such holy ground, you have to be so careful when you use
words like this, but I hope you can understand what I'm saying,
that God in the spiritual essence of his being. God is spirit.
Those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. But
as spirit, God could not pay the sin debt for the sins of
man, of his chosen multitude. But as the only begotten Son
of the Father, he could. As the only begotten Son, as
the God-man, as God-become-man, he could. He could die as a man
for men. In flesh he partook of the children's
flesh that he might die, that he might defeat him who had the
power of death, that is, the devil. So the infinite God, think
of this, the infinite God became an infant. The infinite God became
an infant. Charles Wesley puts it, God contracted
to a span, incomprehensibly made man. Isn't that profound? God contracted to a span. He
became an infant. The one who is, as Hebrews 1
tells us, the express image of God. Philip, show us the Father
and that will suffice. Philip, have I been so long with
you and you have not known me? He who has seen me has seen the
Father. He who is the express image of
God. He who is the outshining of God. Think of the majesty. He became
a helpless baby, feeding at his mother's breast. Dependent, helpless,
feeding on his mother's breast. The infinite, the infinite, self-existent
God. In him is life. And the life
was the light of men. Where there is life, it is because
of God. The infinite, self-existent God became a man. Why? to die as a man in the place
of men, to pay the debt that they owed to the justice of God
for their sin. Here he is, this one, the Son
of God, the only begotten Son, becoming man, that he might pay
redemption's price, the only way that that price could be
paid, the only way. Bread and wine, broken body,
shed blood, to redeem His people from the curse of the law. Here
is God's Lamb, the Lamb that always was, for He is, as Revelation
13.8 says, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And He atones, He makes at one, He atones for His fallen people,
the people He loved, but yet they're sinners. He does it to
satisfy justice and declare them righteous, justly righteous. And truly, this is so profound. Paul writes to Timothy in 1 Timothy
3.16, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. Can you fathom it? I can't. Great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh. Think on it. God was manifest
in the flesh when Jesus walked this earth. God was manifest
in the flesh. He was justified in the Spirit.
He was seen of angels. He was preached unto the Gentiles.
He was believed on in the world. He was received up into glory.
great is the mystery of godliness.' And Isaac pictured it. Isaac
obeyed Abraham for the accomplishment of redemption, or so they thought.
Maybe, maybe they even thought, is Isaac the one? In him shall
your seed be called. All the nations of the earth
shall be blessed in him. This multitude which no man can
number will come from him, and from the faith that you and he
display, and the death that he is going to accomplish. I wonder
if they thought that, and of course it couldn't possibly be,
for Isaac was a sinner, just as Abraham was. But not Christ. He was without sin. He came in
the likeness of sinful flesh, but without sin. So Christ became
obedient unto death. As Isaac obeyed Abraham, so Christ
obeyed his father. Oh, let this cup pass from me,
he said. in Gethsemane. Nevertheless, not my will, but
thine, be done. He became obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross." And there's such a curse in that
word, the cursed cross, the shameful cross, the death of the cross
was the shameful death. For cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree. He became obedient unto death.
Philippians 2, read it. In verse 6, Abraham took the
wood and laid it upon his son. As Isaac carried the wood for
the burnt offering, so Christ carried the cross of wood for
his offering on Mount Moriah. Mount Moriah, it is almost certain
that it's where Jerusalem is to this day in the Middle East.
That's where it was, where the temple was, where Christ was
crucified on that part of Mount Moriah that was outside of the
city wall. As Isaac was bound on the altar
by ropes, willingly, willingly, willingly, he could have overpowered
his father when it came to physical strength, but he willingly submitted
and was bound with ropes on that altar. So Christ was bound to
the cross. Christ loved us. We read in Ephesians
5 verse 2, Christ loved us. gave himself up for us, a fragrant
offering, and sacrificed to God for a sweet-smelling savour."
Do you remember that term from Noah coming out of the ark? And
when he sacrificed, God smelled a sweet-smelling savour. Christ
is that sweet-smelling savour. For he satisfies justice. He
makes atonement for sin. Hebrews 5 verse 8, As Isaac obeyed,
so Christ, though he were a son, Though he were a son, the heir
of all things, yet learned he obedience by the things which
he suffered. Imagine the anguish in Abraham's
whole being when he raised that knife fully intending to kill
the son of his love. God had told him to do it. He
was convinced God would raise him up but here now is the moment,
the knife's in his hand and he's about to thrust it down on his
son who can't get away because he willingly had himself bound
to that. He's to be killed and burnt as
a burnt offering. He's intending fully, can you
imagine the anguish in him? Imagine if it is possible something
of the anguish in the Godhead, that the Father should slay his
Son to pay redemption's price. What a colossal price! That the
Father should slay the well-beloved Son, what infinite love for those
people is displayed. What a price to pay! Precious
blood! As of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, Christ, not silver and gold, not perishable
things, but as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, His
blood was shed. Our Passover Lamb, sacrificed
for His people, that the angel of death might not come where
His people are. Imagine the emotions in Abraham
and Isaac when they saw the ram that God had provided. Don't
do it, Abraham. I know, I know, I know what is
in your heart. I know your intent. You don't
do it. Leave the lad alone. Cut him free. Look, and behind
him he sees the ram caught by its horns in a bush. And it's
there, as verse 13 tells us, to take Isaac's place and die
in the stead of him, in the place of him. Is that not what Christ
has done for his people? A substitute, died in the place
of his people. Can you imagine the delight in
Abraham's heart as he cuts the cords that bound Isaac to that
altar? God said you don't need to do
it, there's a ram. God has provided himself a sacrifice. Can you imagine Abraham's delight
in cutting those cords? So imagine the pleasure of God
in justly cutting the cords of legal justice from his elect
whom he loved from everlasting. There are cords that bind us,
children of wrath even as others, there are cords that bind us
to judgment as we are, but in Christ those cords are cut. God has justly cut those cords
for His people, the cords of legal justice that would condemn,
He's cut those cords that would bind us. Who shall lay anything,
says Romans 8, 33 and 34? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? Why should we still be bound?
There is nothing to be bound for. God has justified his people. Who is he that condemns? Even
the accuser of the brethren can't condemn, for Christ has died.
Yea, rather, he's risen again. And then finally, let us see,
quickly, resurrection. As it were, Isaac rose from the
dead, didn't he? He was bound and as good as dead
on that altar. Hebrews 11, 19 again, accounting,
Abraham, accounting, reckoning, that God was able to raise Isaac
up, even from the dead, from whence also he received him in
a figure. He received him from the dead,
as good as dead, he received him from as good as dead. When
he cut those cords and released him and put the ram in its place,
God had seen Jehovah Jireh. Jehovah Jireh, that's the term,
what does it say there in verse 14? And Abraham called the name
of the place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day in the
mount of the Lord it shall be seen. There's an article in the
bulletin written by Don Faulkner which says the three meanings,
it shall be seen, The Lord will provide and God shall be seen. That's what the three meanings
of that. Read that article when you can.
But that's what it means. God made provision. God has made
provision. God has provided a lamb for the
sacrifice. God's justice is satisfied. The sin debt was paid in full. As Romans 4.25 tells us, Jesus
our Lord was delivered for our offenses when he died on the
cross and shed his blood was raised. He didn't stay dead,
because when the penalty was paid, he was raised again for
our justification. He was raised in vindication
of the fact that the sacrifice had been paid in full. God's
wrath was propitiated. It was turned away. Christ's
death had satisfied divine justice. God was satisfied. He has no
pleasure in the death of the wicked, oh, but he had pleasure
in the death of his Son, because it satisfied divine justice.
There was a sweet-smelling aroma, and Christ was raised as the
mark of it. as the stamp of it, as the confirmation
of his people's justification, so that there is therefore now
no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. Can
you imagine as they go back down Mount Moriah, back to where they
left their two young men and the ass, how happily Abraham
and Isaac and the two of them then return to Beersheba? It's
accomplished. There's joy in heaven, Christ
is risen from the dead, the sacrifice is paid, the people are justified,
how should a man be just with God? Christ has paid the debt
and has justified his people. Whatever the state of the world
then or now, because you know these events are separated by,
who knows, four thousand plus years I would imagine, What riches
they experienced, what riches we, if we believe God, experience
now. Despite the state of this world,
the state of the world then was no different to now. We saw that
with Nimrod a couple of weeks ago. What comfort there is in
the gospel when there's no comfort in this world? A vaccine? Is
that your only comfort? There's a vaccine that might
stop you getting this coronavirus so that you might live a few
more years. And then he died. And then he died. And then he
died. What then? What then? What comfort
there is in this gospel? What blessing there is in it?
There's a blessing in it. There's a blessing in it. There's
hope. There's eternal hope. There's
assurance in it. Comfort, isn't there? There's
Sabbath. You know what Sabbath means?
Rest. It's not a day. Today is not the Sabbath in its
Christian form. Christ is our Sabbath. He is
our rest from the works of the law, from being at odds with
God. being destined for judgment and
condemnation. He, He is our Sabbath, our rest. It's all in the gospel of God. It's God's gospel. Who is it
for? I'll close with this. Who is
it for? Answer, again and again, the scriptures tell us. It's
not for everybody. No, it's not. No, couldn't be. Couldn't be. It's not for everybody.
It's for those who thirst for it. Ho, everyone that thirsts,
come to the waters. It's for those that hunger for
it. Blessed. are those that hunger and thirst
for righteousness, for they shall be filled. It's for those who
seek it. Seek the Lord while he may be
found, and you will find him. Seek him. He promises you will
find him. Ask, ask, and it will be open
to you. You will be shown. Ask, ask him. Show me, Lord, the way of salvation.
must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you shall be saved, and anybody else that hears this. Amen.