we're often told to beware of
counterfeits especially in this internet age where financial
scamming is absolutely right you've got to be so careful that
what you're dealing with is the genuine thing and is not a fake
you know there's so many people are conned and how bitterly disappointed
they are you see these people that had a phone call telling
them to invest and oh surely they know that it's important
to invest and they hand over thousands of pounds, and after
the event they discover it was a fraud, it was a scam. And don't
people want to know about things like that? Of course they do!
Don't you want to know when there's a fraud? Well I'm telling you
the biggest fraud ever is the world of religion that's out
there. The biggest fraud ever. There's false religion all around
us. You know, every religion, whatever
it is, is fundamentally asking this question. How can I be right
with God? Isn't it? Isn't that what every
religion? Islam is asking the question, how can I be right
with God? Catholicism is asking the question,
how can I be right with God? Anglicanism, all of it is asking
that question, how can I be right with God? And do you know what
every one of them says? by your works. By your works,
by what you do, is how you can be right with God. You live in
this way, you follow these rules, you go to these places, you do
these things, and God will be pleased with you, and you will
be right with God. But what is it aimed at? What
are these works aimed at? What is the required standard
that they're aiming at? I'll tell you what the standard
is, it's different for everyone because every one of them has
an idol and worships an idol which is their own imagination,
the thoughts of their own imagination. Every false god is the product
of the thoughts of the imagination of fallen man. You know when
Paul went into Athens he saw that there were idols, statues,
to every god, they had all sorts of gods, a god for this, and
a god for that, and a god for that, and he said, I perceive
that you are altogether too superstitious. But he said, while I was coming
in here I noticed one other memorial that you had. It was to the unknown
god. you know, hedging their bets.
They've got Zeus and they've got all of these ancient Greek
deities, false deities, but he said, there's one, you're hedging
your bets, you're not quite sure, and you've got a memorial to
the unknown god, he said. Him, whom you ignorantly worship,
you don't know about him, you've just put up a sign that there's
something about this unknown god, he said. Him, I declare
to you. That's preaching. That's preaching. You know, preaching is not debating.
Preaching is not sharing one another's opinions. Preaching
is declaring. Paul declared, the true God,
Him I declare to you. Who? The omnipotent God. What
does that mean? He's all-powerful. What does
it speak of? It speaks of creation, of the
universe, of everything. Why is it as it is? Why are we
all still here? Why is the earth going round
the sun? Why are all the heavenly bodies
in their positions? Because God is upholding all
things now by the word of the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That's why. He's omnipotent. Where is he? Everywhere. Where can I go to
flee from him? If I go to the depths of the
sea, I can't get away from him. If I make my bed in hell, I can't
get away from him. He's everywhere. He's omnipresent.
This God is everywhere and all-seeing. Because he's omniscient. He knows
everything. All. Omni. All. He knows everything. This God knows everything. There
is nothing hidden from him. And above all, what's his overriding
characteristic? it's his holiness the angels
in glory when Isaiah saw that vision in the temple in Isaiah
chapter 6 in the year that Uzziah died the king died and he was
in the temple and he had a vision and he saw the Lord Jesus Christ
we know it was the Lord Jesus Christ because John 12 tells
us John 12 48 Isaiah saw the glory of Christ and he saw him
and his train filled the temple and what did he see? He saw the
cherubim around the throne, and they cried, holy, holy, holy,
our God is holy, the true God with whom we have to do is holy,
and we are sinners, and we fall far short of his glory, and there
is divine justice And we don't, as natural people, as men and
women in our natural state, we don't understand this. All men
and women in their natural state have false views of God. Did
you know that's the case? Psalm 50 tells us. Psalm 50 verse
21. God is speaking to the people
that were the Jews, that were the Israelites, that were the
people who were called the people of God. And he's speaking to
them, and he's talking about their sin, and how they had not
repented of their sin, and how they had not recognized their
sin. And he said, these things, these sins you have done, and
I've let you go on with it. I kept silence, he said. And
then he says to them this, This is God speaking. Thou thoughtest
that I was altogether such an one as thyself. You know what
we're like? how we're inconsistent, how we
never follow anything through properly, how we change our minds
and we'll have a plan one day and then we have to change it
the next. And God said, you thought that he, God, was altogether
like that. Oh, yeah, he doesn't like sin,
but is he going to punish him? Well, would you? Oh no, we'll
let them off today. And that's what people think God is like.
We think he's altogether like one of us, but he isn't. He's
a God of perfection. unchanging perfection, absolute
strict justice, unbending justice, justice that cannot be altered
in any way whatsoever. This is the God with whom we
have to do. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. He's a holy God. How holy
do we have to be to go to heaven? As holy as He is. How holy? As holy as he is. Except, said
Jesus, your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes
and Pharisees, you shall in no wise enter in. The people thought
that the Pharisees were the ultimate in religious righteousness and
who could get to heaven if they couldn't he said unless you exceed
that you will in no wise enter in it's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God people religious folks seem
to think that they can twist God round their little finger
and get away with things religious folks think that Oh, you know,
if we're sincere, you know, if we sincerely try our best, God
will be happy with that and it won't matter. You know, and so
they come up with, they say they keep the law. They say they keep
the law of God to get more sanctified. So they call Sunday the Sabbath
in its Christian form. And on Sunday, they have a set
of rules that they think makes them keep the fourth commandment. They think, you know, Read what
the books of Moses say about the fourth commandment, about
the Sabbath day and the keeping of it. Their sincere efforts,
their 21st century sincere efforts come nowhere near, for what does
God's word say? Cursed is everyone who does not
continue In most of the things, no, in all of the things that
are written in the book of the law, to do them. It's utterly
unbending, it's utterly uncompromising. So the question is, how? You
know, I ask it so often. It's Job's question. How to be
declared just with God? How to be declared right with
God? How to be declared holy enough
for God? Try your best. Do good works. No filthy rags, he says. They're
filthy rags. And there will be people, Jesus
said, on the day of judgment there will be religious folks
who think they're doing the right thing and they will say to him,
Lord, Lord, didn't we do this in your name? Didn't we do that
in your name? Didn't we preach? Didn't we heal?
Didn't we give gifts to people? Didn't we do all of these things
in your name? And Jesus said, I will say to
them, depart from me. You who work iniquity, I never
knew you. They're chilling words, aren't
they? Abraham. We're looking in the scriptures
at how the scriptures testify of Christ. Abraham has been promised
life. He's a sinner, Abraham, and he's
been promised life. God's promised him life, hasn't
he? Again and again, God's promised Abraham life. We've seen that
before. He's promised him a seed and
seeds, a progeny, that which will come from him. A great nation
composed of members from all nations. And Abraham asked the
question several times, how? How will this be? He was 80 odd
years old, remember? His wife was nearly as 10 years
younger than him. And how is this going to be?
How is there going to be a seed? What's going to happen? And he
asked the question often, and as we saw last time, as Isaiah
tells us, precept upon precept, and line by line, more and more
revelation, more of the picture is laid upon that which went
before, and it's gradually revealed. And we read in Galatians chapter
3 verse 8, the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen,
all nations, through faith, God preached the gospel before and
to Abraham. God preached the gospel to Abraham. Abraham's asking, how? How is
it going to be that a sinful man against such strict and bending
justice is going to be declared right with God? And Galatians
tells us, Paul in Galatians tells us, God preached the gospel to
Abraham. He did, in several pictures.
God preached the Gospel to Abraham, in types, in pictures, but there's
nowhere clearer than in Genesis 22. So have Genesis 22 open before
you as we think on these things. I'm going to try and not be very
long. but you might wonder what more is there to say I mean if
you look on sermon audio and you look up sermons on Genesis
22 you'll find no end there's loads because it's such a popular
chapter with preachers because they can always bring out some
oratory right I wonder if we'll find anything perhaps that you
might not have seen before I believe we've got something here so look
at verse one verse one of Genesis chapter 22 And it came to pass,
after these things, after these things, after these, what, what,
after what things? After the trials that had gone
before. After the trials that Abraham
had experienced before, another trial was to come. And that is
the lot of each of us that live the Christian life, that live
the life of faith. If you think it's a bed of roses,
if you think it's a life of ease, if you think it's health, wealth
and happiness, and if you don't have those things it's because
you haven't got enough faith, that's a lie of the devil. It's
a lie of false religion. The Christian experience is the
chastisement of God. Because God is weaning his children
his children in the flesh from the love of the world. As John
says, my little children love not the world. That's what John
says. Little children love not the
world. And he does it to teach faith
and to cause reliance and expectation on the God of the universe. Because
here, if we believe, here we have no continuing city, but
we seek one to come. You know, the fool said, oh,
you've done so well, you've had such good crops, build barns,
tear down my barns and build bigger, because now I'm going
to enjoy life, I'm going to enjoy my retirement, I've got so much
goods, you know, eat, drink and be merry, you know, you've got
everything. And God said to him, thou fool, this night, your soul
shall be required of you. What an error it is to think
that a man's happiness and well-being consists in the things that he
possesses. What an utter delusion, what
an utter lie that is. Yes, it's right to be diligent
and to take care of your family, that's absolutely right and proper,
for one that doesn't do that is worse than an infidel, Paul
tells Timothy. Worse than an infidel, of course
it's your response, but to think that your future and your happiness
depends on the things that you possess is such a delusion. No,
God brings us through trials. What things had he brought Abraham
through? After these things, after what
things? Abraham had come out of Ur of the Chaldees with immediate
family, with his father, Tira. He'd buried his father, Tira,
who died. There he is, even more alone.
He'd had conflict with his nephew, Lot. where the herdsmen couldn't
agree and they had to split and separate so he'd come out with
this big happy family and then all of a sudden they're split
and one's down in the plain near Sodom and Gomorrah and Abraham's
on his own again and then he had to go to war to rescue Lot
who'd been captured and then after that he'd seen Lot's family
every one of them apart from Lot and his two unmarried daughters
That's all that came out. Lot, well his wife came out as
well, but she turned to a pillar of salt when she looked back
with longing in her heart at the place that she'd left. He'd
seen Lot, the wider family of Lot, swept away in the judgment
of Sodom and Gomorrah. Trials, trials. You know, you
think of it, you hear of things befalling your wider family,
it pulls at the heartstrings. He'd endured a 25 year wait for
Isaac. Was that a trial? You know, he's
80, 90, 100 years old and he'd been promised and he's 100 and
Sarah's 90 and then finally God does that which he said. That
was a trial. 25 years of waiting. You know,
I remember somebody telling me, an old Welsh creature said, the
wheels of God grind exceeding slow and in some things they
do and we want things to happen so quickly. Abraham was put through
a trial, 25 years of waiting and then he had to cast out Hagar
and Ishmael who's this young man you know he's a strong young
man and he would have loved Ishmael as his own flesh and blood which
he was but he had to cast them out because the son of the bondwoman
could not be heir with the son of the free woman and he had
to cast them out last week's sermon. They're trials, surely
he'd had enough hadn't he? Was that not enough trial to
test Abraham? Learn this believer, whatever
you've been through God is preparing you for the next one. Enough? Not yet. There's one more major
trial to teach how eternity is one, how eternity is grasped. But remember this, every single
trial, where does it come from? It comes from God our Father. That's where every single trial
comes from, from God our Father, every single one of them. And
its purpose is not to punish, never. God doesn't punish his
children, God sends trials and chastisements to prove our faith,
to improve our faith. and above all to reveal Christ
and make Christ more precious and this world and the things
in it less precious so God would show Abraham how he would satisfy
offended justice so as to bring sinners into the bliss of eternal
glory and because by man sin came in as in Adam all die, Adam
sinned, Adam not deceived knowing what he was doing sinned Adam
sinned and with him all of us, all of his progeny, all the human
race fell and thus death came. By man, sin came in. If sin is
to be eradicated, if sin is to be removed, it must be by a man. A man must pay the price of sin. Animal sacrifices are no good.
Hebrews 10 verse 4, it is not possible that the blood of bulls
and of goats should take away sins. But which man is able to
take away sins? Which man? Revelation 5 verses
4 and 5 some might say I'm using a bit too much poetic license
quoting this verse but I think it speaks to the point John in
his vision in Revelation chapter 5 verses 4 and 5 he wept because
there was a book and no man was found worthy to open and to read
the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, Weep not. Behold, the Lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book.
There is one There is one and there is only one, says the scripture.
It's our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the God-man. It's God incarnate
who is that man who is able to come and to deal with sin and
to satisfy justice. There was no other good enough,
as that hymn says, to pay the price of sin. He only could unlock
the gate of heaven and let us in. No other, good enough. Only
the Christ of God. Only the God-man can satisfy
divine justice for sinful men. But how is God going to preach
this to Abraham? How is he going to show Abraham
that the God-man must come to deal with this issue of offended
divine justice? How is he going to do it? Well,
if Abraham and his seed is to be blessed, it can only be in
the Christ of God. How will God show him? Genesis
22 verse 2, look at it. He said, he said, take now thy
son, thine only Isaac. Oh, you say you've missed a word
out. No, I haven't. That son is in italics. It means the translators
put it in there to help us. I think 99.999% of what these
translators did was excellent, but there are one or two places
where we have to use a bit of judgment. And here, this word
that they put in, I think detracts from the meaning. take now thy
son thine only Isaac you see Abraham already had a son didn't
he Ishmael Isaac physically was not Abraham's only son but he
was his only Isaac he was his only son of promise he was his
only son of the free woman take him take Isaac whom thou lovest
whom thou lovest You know, of course Abraham loved Ishmael.
Of course Abraham loved him. Of course he did. But he said,
take this one that above all others, this child of promise
is so precious to you. Take him and get thee to the
land of Moriah. Yes, yes, yes. And offer him there. Offer him
there for a burnt offering. this precious one, offer him
for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will
tell thee of. And Abraham rose up early and went, take your
son, your only Isaac. What would pay the price of divine
justice? What would make satisfaction
for the sin of a multitude? Because there's a seed coming,
a multitude, in thee all nations shall be blessed. How is the
sin debt going to be paid? for that multitude blessed in
Abraham. How's it going to be done? You
see, what the Psalmist wrote later, none of them, meaning
no ordinary man can by any means redeem his brother. An ordinary
man can't pay the price of redemption for his brother, nor give to
God a ransom for him. Please let this one go, here's
the ransom, let him go. Nobody can. Why not? For the
redemption of their soul is precious and it ceaseth forever. What
does that mean? It's costly to an extent that
you can never ever satisfy. No man, no ordinary man can ever,
but, but must have thought Abraham, but must have thought Abraham.
Isaac wasn't ordinary, was he? Isaac wasn't an ordinary man.
Oh, he thinks, he's the child of promise. This one, this son
born to him is the child of promise. He's the most precious thing
in the world to Abraham. The most precious thing in the
world. Sacrifice him. to pay the sin-debt of the seed
that shall come. Was this not what God was saying?
I'm surmising that this was Abraham's thought and I think with justification
we can say that, for Christ said, these scriptures testify of me. I think when God told Abraham
to go and sacrifice his beloved Isaac this special, unique child. He thought, he is the one. He
is the promised seed, capital S, who is going to pay redemption's
price for the seeds that shall come. He is the one. I must take
him. And what will God do? Surely
God will raise him to life again, when I've offered him as a burnt
offering. Surely God will raise him back to life. Surely with
the sin debt paid, and justice satisfied for sin, God will restore
Isaac to life. This was how he thought. And
being an obedient child of God, you know when they went to Cana
of Galilee, to the wedding, the first miracle, and Jesus went
with his disciples, and they came to Jesus and said, they
haven't got any wine, it's all run out, there's no wine left. Mary said to the servants, whatever
he says to you, do it. And when God spoke to Abraham,
it was as good as that. Whatever he says to you, do it.
Your beloved Isaac, take him and sacrifice him as a burned
offering for sins. Take him and offer him, yeah?
So, what did Abraham do? Verse three, Abraham rose up
early in the morning. Abraham didn't complain, Abraham
didn't debate, Abraham had seen by the gospel preached to him
that this is what he must do. He saddled his ass, he took two
of his young men with him, and Isaac, his son, and the wood
for the burnt offering as God had told him to do. And they
went. They just had a couple of servants with them, and they
went, and it was a three-day journey. apparently because verse
four on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the
place afar off and when they got there Abraham said verse
five to his young man you stay here with the ass and I and the
lad and the lad would be in his early twenties I'm guessing but
don't think that he's a little boy don't think that he's a weak
little man that an old man Abraham a hundred and ten hundred and
twenty years old could overpower not in the slightest he's a strapping
lad he's in the prime of his youth and he's going there I
and this strapping lad this Isaac that I love will go yonder and
worship and come again to you And he really believed that despite
what he would have to do to pay the price of sins, he and Isaac
would come back. They went away alone. Abraham
and his beloved son, they went alone. And what does the scripture
tell us about God? and our Lord Jesus Christ. 2
Corinthians 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world of his
people, that is, to himself without any outside help No help whatsoever. He did it alone. He didn't do
it with any help from those, the multitude that would benefit
from it. He did it alone. He went alone. It pictures God
in Christ, alone, reconciling the world unto himself. Look
at verse 7. They took the fire, and they
took the wood, and they took the knife, and they went both
of them together but alone. Verse 7, And Isaac spake to his
father Abraham, and said, My father, and he said, Here I am,
my son. And he said, Here's the wood, and here's the fire, but
where is the lamb? for a burnt offering? Don't we need a burnt offering?
Isn't this what we're going to do? He knew about sacrifice for
sins because that had been there right since Adam and Eve in the
garden when God clothed them with animal skins. Don't we need
an animal? Don't we need a lamb for a burnt
offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself,
a lamb for a burnt offering." He basically said, Jehovah-Jireh,
God is the one who will provide. God will provide himself an offering. And they went, both of them,
together to the place where this was to be done. Jehovah-Jireh. God will see his seed, this is
what the name means, he will see his seed meaning see his
seed safely redeemed he will provide for his seed, he will
provide everything to redeem his seed and he will be seen
by his seed because his seed his people will see how and what
he has done to redeem them from sin but they went alone someone
wrote that our Lord Jesus Christ at the Passover before he was
crucified, when he was crucified, that 12 disciples went with him
to the feast of the Passover in the upper room, 12 went with
him. That Judas went and then 11 went with him to the Garden
of Gethsemane. And while the 11 were there with
him in the Garden of Gethsemane, three went with him to the place
where he prayed. Three went with him. but when
it came to the cross Christ went to the cross with none of his
disciples he went alone, Abraham and Isaac went alone and Isaac
voluntarily, verse nine, when they came to the place which
God had told him of Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood
in order and this old man of what, 120 must he have been at
least 120 bound this strapping young man in the prime of his
life, Isaac and laid him on the altar upon the wood to slay him. Do you think Isaac understood
what they were trying to do? I'm sure he did. Did Abraham? Of course he did. God had preached
the gospel to him. This was picturing the gospel.
And he takes the knife. Abraham stretched forth his hand
and took the knife to slay his son. Totally, totally determined
to do it. Isaac voluntarily submitted Our
Lord Jesus Christ voluntarily submitted. He is brought, says
Isaiah 53, as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers
is dumb so he openeth not his mouth. Jesus said, Father if
thou be willing remove this cup of the wrath of God from me.
Nevertheless not my will but thine be done. though he were
a son, says Hebrews 5 verse 8, though Christ was God himself,
God the Son, though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the
things which he suffered and Abraham was fully committed to
do that which God had said because he believed God and it was accounted
to him for righteousness not a work of belief but what he
was picturing what he was looking to in what he did was counted
to him for righteousness but at that very moment the word
comes back stop stop an angel of the Lord verse 11 calls to
him stop stop because Isaac is just a picture stop Isaac is
only a picture look at verses eleven and twelve called out
to Abraham here am I and he said lay not thine hand upon the lad
neither do thou anything unto him for now I know that thou
fearest God seeing thou hast not withheld thy son thine only
son from me and 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, in the place of his son. Are these not
thrilling pictures, you know? If you know anything of the grace
of God and the salvation of God and what it is above all else
to know it's well with my soul, these are thrilling, these are
heartwarming pictures. There it is, yeah? This is the
gospel preached to him. We need a man to die in the place
of sinners if their sins are to be... Isaac's the special
man, surely thinks Abraham, and he takes him and he's prepared
to do it. No, no, he's only a picture. Look, there's a ram. Who's ram? God's ram. A lamb. The lamb of
God. God will provide himself a lamb. Yes, the lamb, the ram, was only
a picture too. But oh, what it pictured. Oh,
what it pictured. You see, What was being said there was
not, from Abraham's point of view, not my Isaac, who although
he's a vivid but imperfect picture of the precious son of God to
the father, although he's a vivid picture of that, He isn't. He isn't the one. He isn't the
one who is worthy to open the book and unloose its seals. He
isn't the lion of the tribe of Judah. He isn't the one who is
able to do it. He isn't the lamb slain from
the foundation of the world. Only God's only begotten son
is that one. Only our Lord Jesus Christ is
God's perfect man, is the God-man. He will make atonement for the
promised seed. This is what God's preaching
to Abraham. Your son is a picture, but don't do it to him. No, no,
no. You've seen the picture. Now
look, there's the lamb. Now God said to him, in time,
I'm sure he didn't tell him it would be in 2,000 years, but
it was thereabouts, On this spot, you know, a lot of commentators,
and I think it's a good point, Mount Moriah, they think, was
Calvary, where Jerusalem was. That a thousand years later,
Jerusalem was there. And this place, where Abraham
went with Isaac, was Calvary, where the Son of God was crucified.
Behold the Lamb of God. Here's the picture. Here's the
picture. God's Son must come, a perfect
man, the God-man. He'll make atonement for sin,
God's Lamb, in this very place on Mount Moriah, Calvary, some
2,000 years later. You know, all this worldly fuss. I mean, I like brightening the
dark days of winter, but don't think that there's anything of
religious truth in any of it. And I quite honestly think that
churches and religious organizations, even if they themselves believe
the truth, if they try and join in with it in a religious sense,
they just mess it up. You know, we're not having carol
services, we're not having Christmas morning services. It's just a
delusion that goes, yes, we've got a Christmas tree here with
lights on. Why? Because it's dark days in winter. I find it
a bit odd in Australia, but never mind, any Australians listening,
you know, we can put up with the fact that you celebrate Christmas
at the height of summer, but it's the dark days of winter,
we're brightening it up, we're having a feast time together,
that's great. You know, get together with families,
we're going to be doing it later on, get together with families,
have good food, enjoy time together, it's lovely to do that. I don't
denigrate Christmas in any way, but don't try and mix it with
the truth of religion, because it isn't. It's all about false
religion. But the truth is this, God did
become a man, a real man. God did. Was it this time of
year? I think probably not, but does it matter? The fact is we
remember, not just once a year, but every day. If you're a child
of God, you remember every day that the word became flesh. That
bread came down from heaven, whose body was broken for us,
whose blood was shed to pay the price of sin. That's what we
remember. That's how God makes his blessed
nation justified in his sight. That's how God satisfies justice. That's how God satisfies offended
justice. This is what preached the gospel
to Abraham. Remember Galatians 3.8? God preached
the gospel to Abraham. And by faith, seeing what God
showed him, now what did Jesus say to the Pharisees? John 8.56.
See how wonderful the scriptures are. Listen to this. Jesus said
to the Pharisees who were persecuting him, and hating him, and firing
venom at him in their words. He said, your father Abraham
rejoiced to see my day. And he saw it and was glad. And
you know, of all the instances where Abraham saw glimpses of
the gospel, I don't believe there was one that was clearer than
this. Genesis 22 on Mount Moriah, where Abraham saw the day of
Jesus Christ, of him there on Calvary, paying the sin debt
of his people, of that nation that would be blessed in Abraham,
and Abraham was glad. Abraham looked forward two thousand
years, seeing, seeing, in the mount of the Lord it shall be
seen, seeing and rejoicing and believers today look back, don't
we? 2,000 years or thereabouts seeing
the type, the picture accomplished and fulfilled and what's the
result? We rejoice with joy unspeakable
and full of glory