It came to pass, after these
things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and
he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee unto the
mount, unto the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. 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 claimed
the wood 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 before all. And Abraham
said unto his young men, Abide ye here where they ask, and I
and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you.
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid
it upon Isaac his son, And he took the fire in his hand and
the knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father and said, My father. And he said, Here
am I, 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. So they went both of them together. They came to the place which
God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there,
and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his
hand, and took the knife to slay his son. And the angel of the
Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And
he said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thy hand
upon the land, 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 horn. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh. As it is said to this day in
the mouth of the Lord, it shall be seen. And the angel of the
Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and
said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou
hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only
son, that in blessing I will bless thee. And multiplying,
I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand
which is upon the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies. And in thy seed shall all the
nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice."
I imagine you and I will spend two or three weeks in this chapter,
but I want to look at this afternoon with you in this way, that God
tried Abraham. There in verse 1, it came to
pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham. It came to pass after these things. These things. It seems like that
we come to a place here where Abraham was closing a chapter
in his life. These things had come to pass,
and now God begins to deal with Abraham in a different way, in
different issues, with his son Isaac. You would think, I guess,
that after Abraham had put Ishmael and his mother, the slave woman,
out of the house, in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that now
he would have some rest. For 25 years Abraham had lived
by faith. God had promised him a son. He
waited faithfully, waited upon God. And the Lord had blessed
him. Sarah had conceived from a dead
womb and bore Abraham, their son Isaac. And Abraham was now
a hundred years old or better. He had planted a vineyard in
Beersheba. And you would think it was time
now probably to relax, to rest, to enjoy watching Isaac mature,
to train him up. But after these things, after
all these things, God tried Abraham. God tempted Abraham. As you and
I read this, verse 1, after these things, God tempted Abraham. And I like to use that word,
proved Abraham. God tested Abraham. God tried
Abraham. But when you and I read this
verse like this, how do we look at this in the light of James
in chapter 1 where he tells us Let an old man say when he's
tempted, I'm tempted of God. For God cannot be tempted of
evil, and neither tempts He any man. Well, let me say this about
this, and I think here's the difference when we talk about
temptations and when we talk about testing or trials. It comes down to the motive.
When we're tempted to sin, we're tempted of our flesh. Every man
is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed. When flesh tempts us, it does
it with the motive of drawing us into sin. And when the devil
tempts us, his motive is to entice us to deny the Lord, to curse
him to his face. This is what he did with Job.
Curse the Lord and die, he said through Job's wife. This is what
he did to Peter, enticed Peter to deny the Lord Jesus. This
is what he did to David, to lead him into sin and bring shame
upon the Lord's name. But the difference is in the
lust of the flesh and the temptations of the devil. When God tries
a man, when the Lord tried Abraham, it wasn't to lead him into sin,
but it was to try the graces that God had put into Abraham's
heart. It was to prove and to strengthen
those graces. And it was for God himself to
see these graces. Not to sin, but to prove the
graces that was in his heart. And God did try. God did prove
Abraham. Ain't it a blessed thing, brothers
and sisters? You and I have a difficult time,
I realize, praying, Lord, try me. Know my thoughts. And we have a difficult time
praying that because we don't fully understand what a blessing
it is to be tried, to be tested of the Lord. You know God don't
test everybody. He doesn't try everybody. Why should he? He tries his grace
that he's put in a person's heart. Everybody don't have that grace.
Why should he try it? The fining pot is for silver
and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tries the heart. But
who does he try? The Lord tries the righteous. I rebuke those and I chasten
those whom I love. And He tries those who believe
in Him, like Abraham. But the wicked and him that loveth
violence, his soul hateth. For God to test us then, for
God to prove us, is evidence that we're His. The Lord trieth
the righteous. If we're His, He chastens us
because He loves us. If we're His, He proves us to
try the graces that He's put there in His heart. If God gets
glory in trying His people, and He does, then His people should
get a share of us out of His trying them. One of the most
difficult things it is to pray, though, search me, O God, and
know me. Is it not so? Try my heart. See if there's any evil way in
me, and if we know that that's the motive, that's the motive. And to this end, Lord, try me
to see if there's an evil way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting. You see what the Lord does in
trying us, in proving us. He not only reveals his grace
that's in us, but sometimes he exposes the sin that's there.
the unbelief that's there, the self-righteousness that's there,
the self-love that's there. And the trials prove that and
drives it away and leads us to repentance and humility. So the
first thing that we see here from this text, the Lord tries
his people. God tested Abraham. Gracious and faithful Abraham. When God calls us and puts grace
in our heart, He's going to try that grace to some degree. Because
in trying it, He gets glory from it. He gets honor from it. And
secondly, we see here not only that God tries His people, but
He knows how to try His people. He knows how to prove His people.
Each word here in verse 2, boy, seems to add to the heaviness
of this trial that Abraham's going to face. The Lord knows
what's in a man's heart. And that's what He tries. He
tries the heart and He tries the reins. So what's the first
thing He says to Abraham? Notice this. Take now thy son
and offer him for a burnt offering. Take now thy son. Yes, Lord. I'll find Ishmael. And I'll tell
him to come back home. I love Ishmael. But I'd be willing
to offer him for sacrifice. No, no, not Ishmael. Not Ishmael. I know you love Ishmael, but
there's somebody you love more than Ishmael. And that's who
I'm after. I'm after the love of your heart.
Take thy son, not Ishmael, but thine only son Isaac. And I love the way this is here
in the original. Take thine only Isaac. Thine only Isaac. There was none
in all of this world that Abraham's soul was so wrapped up in but
Isaac. Thine only Isaac. Abraham probably
thought more of this son than he thought of his wife. Thine
only Isaac. Sarah would never have another
son. Thine only Isaac. Abraham's hope of a blessed prosperity
was wrapped up in this young man. In Isaac shall thy seed
be called." God knows how to try and prove His saints because
He knows their hearts. He knows their hearts. If some of Abraham's friends
had tried to try Abraham and prove him, they would have probably
said, Abraham, give up your cattle. Abraham, give up your servants.
Abraham, give up your bags of silver. And you know something? He would have willingly did it.
But Abraham's heart wasn't wrapped up there. God knows where his
heart was wrapped up. And he gets right to it. I am
thine only son Isaac. Take him and offer him. And he
says you'll take thy son Isaac whom thou lovest. Whom thou lovest. Your soul loves
it. Your soul is wrapped up in it.
I bet you Abraham never wanted to die that he didn't think of
his son. And didn't thank God for it.
And rightfully so. He was the son of his old age.
And Abraham's soul was wrapped up in him. And Abraham loved
him. And the Lord knew that. And that was the very point where
he said, I'm going to prove you. I'm going to prove you. I'm telling
you folks, the Lord knows how to prove you. I don't know how
to prove you. I don't even know how to prove myself. But I'm
telling you, the Lord looks on a man's heart. He knows where
your affections is. He knows where your desires is.
Simon, son of Jonah, lovest thou me? But he didn't stop there,
did he? And I'm telling you, words won't
satisfy the Lord. I'm sure he loves for us to go
to prayer and say, Lord, I love you. I love you because you first
loved me. I love you because you heard
my supplication and my prayers. I love you because you saved
me. You met my need. But you know something? He won't
stop at just sharing words. You know, he won't do it. He
won't do it. Simon, you love me more than
these. You love me more than these brethren.
You're commanded to love them. But do you love me more? You
love me more than these fishes? You love me more than fishing?
You love me more than your wife? You love me more than your husband?
You love me more than your job? You love me more than everything
else? Yea, Lord, you know I love you. Then show me. Feed my sheep. Ain't that what he said? Feed
my sheep. What's the first thing the Lord's
going to prove? He's going to prove our love. He's going to
prove our love. Take thy son, thine only son
Isaac, whom thou so lovest. And here is the searching question,
and it must be answered by the heart with a clear conscience,
and it must be answered before him who asketh. Lovest thou me
more than anything else? He's going to try our love. The
Lord proved Abraham. The Lord puts this grace of love
in our hearts, and then he proves it to see if you love the giver
more than the gift. Abraham, I gave you Isaac. He's
my gift to you, but I want to know something. Do you still
love me more than you love the gift? Lord, you know. I know, but I'm going to prove
it. I want to see some proof. I'm going to prove your love.
You and I delight in those passages that tells us and proves to us
that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ.
Tribulation can't do it. Distress can't do it. Famine
can't do it. Sword. Things present, things
to come. Life, death, or any other creature. is able to separate us from the
love of God that's in Christ Jesus the Lord. God proved His
love for us. He didn't just say, I love you.
He proved it by giving us His Son. Christ proved His love for
us by giving His life. And the Holy Spirit proves the
love for us by calling us and revealing Christ our heart and
shedding abroad the love of God in our souls. And now God delights to prove
his people's love for him. And he delights to see that nobody's
going to separate him from our love. That's what he wants to
see. That's what he's going to see.
Now I know. Lord, you know everything. If
that's what Peter said, I know everything. But I'm going to
find it out experientially. We're going to have some experiments. How it must have delighted the
Lord Jesus, the blessed Savior, when Peter and Andrew left their
nests to follow Him. Did you ever think of that? How
it must have rejoiced His heart when John and James left their
father and Matthew left his receipt of customs and followed Him because
they loved Him. Because they loved Him. The Lord's heart must have leaped
for joy when his disciples said with one united voice, Lord,
to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of life eternal.
He rejoices in his people's love for him. Lord, thou knowest all things.
The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord, and listen to this,
he delighteth in his ways. Who delights in His ways? The
Lord delights in the ways of a good man. Why does God do that? Because God marked those ways
out. And God put the grace in His heart to cause Him to walk
in those ways. And He delights to see it and
prove it. Does the Lord delight in a man?
Does the Lord delight Himself in a woman? I tell you this,
the Lord delights in that heart where His graces are in exercise. especially in the time of trials.
Now, that's amazing to me, but that's what the Lord said in
this passage. Abraham, I've seen that you fear me, and I rejoice
in that. Now I know it. Now I know it.
It's amazing, brothers and sisters, that the great God in heaven,
the eternal God, would take the time and the concern to try us
Spurgeon said, if you could imagine a mighty angel, a great archangel,
bent down over an ant hill, trying those little ants and seeing
their strength, what they can bear, that would be amazing,
that he would concern himself with such frivolous creatures. But for the eternal God, to be
so mindful of a man that he had put grace in his heart and then
proved it. That's amazing. That's amazing. God tempted Abraham and the first
thing he tempted him and proved him concerning was his love.
His love. That's a grace God puts in the
heart. If you love the Lord, brothers and sisters, listen
to me. If you love him, you're going to tell him and you're
going to tell others. But he's going to prove it. Now
he's going to prove it. The Lord trieth the righteous,
and he trieth their love. And secondly, the Lord tempted
Abraham. He proved Abraham in this, and
that's his faith. He proved his faith. The grace
of faith in his heart. God called Abraham out of the
air of the calves and put faith in his heart. He believed God.
He said there in verse 2, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
and offer him for a burnt offering." Offer him there upon the mountain
that I will tell you. Abraham was a man that could
reason. He could use logic as well as anybody. He knew in his
heart if he offered Isaac that he would destroy his prosperity.
Using human logic and human reason, Abraham would have never crucified
his son. He'd have reasoned himself out
of it. If I do this, I know that I ain't going to have another
son. In Isaac, my seed is called. Look now towards heaven, number
the stars. That's how many of your seeds
are going to be, but they're coming out of Isaac. And now I'm going
to kill Isaac. A reason says you better not
do that. Logic says if you do that, you've destroyed your own
posterity. But Abraham didn't live by logic,
and he didn't live by reason. He lived by faith. By faith in
the faithfulness of God, and by faith in the power of God. Listen to this. By faith Abraham,
when he was tried, he offered up Isaac, and he that had received
the promises, offered up his only begotten Son, of whom it
was said, In Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that
God was able to raise him from the dead." He's a man of faith. God tried
his faith. Tried his faith. Raised him from the dead. What
do you mean he raised him from the ashes? He wasn't just going
to kill him. He was going to burn him. And
Abraham is wiggling up there on the mountain in worship, and
we're coming right back down there. You fellows wait on us,
we're coming back. He's a man of faith. He's a man of faith. Instead of despairing, thinking
that he had destroyed his seed, which the wise and prudent would
do. I can't do this. He's a man of faith that laid
hold upon the faithfulness of God, that before he let one promise
fall to the ground, he had ceased to be God. Abraham said, this is my responsibility,
this is my duty to obey God and live by faith and leave the consequences
to Him. You're going to burn your son,
I'm going to burn him to ashes and leave it to God to raise
him from the dead. That's faith, ain't it? That's
faith. The Lord gives faith and He tries
faith that He gives. I imagine Abraham probably remembered
when the Lord found him in Ur of the Chaldees, he was dead
in trespasses and sin. And he raised him up. Gave him life from the dead.
When he promised him a son 25 years later, he looked at himself
and said, I'm good as dead. Sarah's womb is dead. But God
opened it and gave life to it. Isn't anything too hard for God
to fulfill His promises? I'll burn my son." With this
in mind, the God who has promised is faithful, and he's able to
fulfill those promises. So he took that knife and he
raised it up, ready to put it in the heart of his son, because
he's a man of faith. God tested him. He tested his
faith. If Abraham didn't know how God
would do it, yet Abraham believed that he was able, And that's
faith, ain't it? It's not always saying, I believe
God's going to do it and He's going to do it this way or that
way. Sometimes faith is reduced to this. I believe He's able
and I know He's faithful. And when faith puts these two
things together, the faithfulness of God and the ability to God,
He'll face the water and He'll face the floods and never be
burned and never be drowned. Have you ever read John Foxe's
Book of Martyrs? A blessed old book that tells
about how mainly the Catholic Church had so many saints put
to death, faced not only humiliation, they faced torture and death,
but they faced it in the faith that there was coming a day,
they didn't know when, that God was going to raise the
saint in the likeness of his son, and they didn't know much
as to how. It does not yet appear what we
shall be, but we know, we believe this, that we'll be in his likeness. And you know they faced death,
they faced humiliation, they faced torture, by just believing
that God was able and he was faithful. Now you and I, you
and I don't face a death like that. We probably never will.
But I tell you what we do face. We face daily trials. God tried
them to a greater degree maybe than He tried us, but aren't
our trials real? And we'll face death just the
same death they face. And the way we'll have to face
it is by faith. Look over here with me right
quickly. Look in 1 Peter. Old Genesis 22 for just a second.
Look in 1 Peter. Peter is talking about this very
thing, the trying of our faith. Look what he said in 1 Peter
1. Look what he said in verse 6.
We greatly rejoice, but now for a season, if need be, ye are
in heaviness through manifold temptation. You are distressed
because of so many temptations. And this is why we're tempted,
this is why we're proved, that the trial of your faith, being
much more precious than a gold that perishes, though it be tried
with fire, may be found unto praise and honor and glory at
the appearing of Jesus Christ. Now somebody asked the question,
what's he talking about? The trine of your faith is precious.
Is he talking about the trine of the faith or faith itself?
He's talking about both. Why can't it be both? We know
faith is precious. There's so little of it. And
I tell you, when you don't have much of something that's precious
anyway, it makes it much more precious. And the trine of that
faith is precious, and it's precious because God does it. And it's
precious because faith is a precious thing, and it endures the trials,
and it always brings glory and honor to the Lord's name. But
we're in heaviness, and the reason we're in heaviness so often is
because of the trying of our faith. Trying of our faith. God is faithful who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that which you're able to bear.
So the first thing The Lord tried Abraham's faith by saying, take
your son, and Isaac shall your seed be called. You believe I'm
able to raise him from the dead? You believe I'm faithful to do
that? I'm going to try you and see. But the second thing, look
back over here again in Genesis 22 and verse 2, the last portion
of that, and here's something else I noticed as I read this,
and boy, here's the way it is, and I bet you've noticed this
during some trials, especially severe trials. Look what he said
to Abraham in the very last portion of verse 2. When he said, take
and offer him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which
I will tell thee of, all he said to Abraham was, all the information
he gave to him was, you take your son and offer him for a
burnt offering. I'm not going to tell you anything
else. Boy, it's tough. It'd be tough to take your son
out in whom your soul is wrapped up. It'd be hard enough to take
him out if you had all kinds of information. Why? What am
I going to do? What's the Lord going to do?
Where's this going to take place? But boy, when you're sent out
to offer your son with no information whatsoever, that makes the burden
worse than ever, don't it? Have you noticed that in your
trials? I mean, when trials comes in dear hardness as a good soldier,
that's all you think in your mind. That's all you know you've
got to do. All I know I've got to do, I've got to stand here.
I've got to stand. I can't be moved. And you say,
oh, if I could just get a verse of Scripture to give me some
instruction. If I could just get a little bit more light about
what's going to take place and how long this trial's going to
be. But all you know, you've got to stand fast. All you hear
is, ìEndure hardness as a good soldier.î And thatís where you
have to wait and walk by faith. And you go and say to yourself,
ìBe of good courage. Wait on the Lord and He will
strengthen thy heart. Wait on the Lord.î And this is
where our faith is tried. If we knew everything and we
never had to wait, thatís not too big a trial for faith. A boy, when the Lord comes and
says, ìYou do this. And when it comes time, I'll
give you some more information. You do this, and when it comes
time, I'll give you some light. Boy, that tries your faith, doesn't
it? It tries your faith. Thirdly,
another grace is this grace of fear. Look here in verse 12. And he said, Lay not thy 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,
thy only Son, from me." God delights to see the exercise
of His grace in our hearts. Listen to Psalm 147, 11. The
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him. He takes pleasure
in their hearts. in the activity that's going
on in their heart. Why does God take pleasure in
them that fear Him? Because it seasons everything
that they do. Why did Abraham obey? Because
he feared the Lord. Obedience must be seasoned with
a fear of God, reverence for God. Now I know that you fear
God. How do you know that? Because
you've obeyed. You've obeyed my voice. You did
what I told you to do. When we don't fear the Lord as
we should, we only think of the consequences of obeying. I lose Isaac. What about Sarah? What's she going to think? Oh, what awful consequences.
But when we fear God as we should, the greatest consequences is
not obeying. Ain't that the way we feel? When
we don't fear the Lord as we should, we only think of the
consequences of obeying. But when we fear Him as we should,
the worst consequences in the world is not obeying. It's not
obeying. And no consequence is any greater
than that, is there? Oh, I can't afford not to obey.
I'm not going to disobey. Why? I fear the Lord. Let us
have grace whereby we may serve the Lord with reverence and godly
fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Serve the Lord with fear
and rejoice with trembling. You remember, well it's not been
that long ago, I know you remember, these little cards, I don't know
what you call them. Somebody was selling them. You could get
them at stores and religious bookstores and all those places.
It had these little notes on it from God. Remember those things? Don't make me come down there
and they sign it God. You know what I think when I
see something like that? Boy, that person don't fear God.
That person don't fear God. Somebody made this statement.
I jotted it down. Communion with God bows a man
to the dust and causes him to use lowly and reverent language. God never comes near to us and
then leaves us in a frame of mind that we can speak flippantly
and irreverently of Him. Now, that's so ain't it? God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence of all
those that are about him. I think if I had one grace in
my heart, if I needed the assurance, I know it's not possible just
to have one grace. If you've got grace, you've got
all the graces. It may not be evident as they
should be. But I think if I just had the assurance of having one
grace, you know what I'd like it to be? The fear of God. The
fear of God. There's no want to them that
fear Him. The fear of the Lord. Abraham obeyed. Why? Because
he feared the Lord. And his obedience was greatly
rewarded. Notice there in verse 12, the
Lord said to him, Now I know. That's what he said to Abraham.
Oh, I'd love him to say that to me, wouldn't you? For the
Lord to speak to your soul and say, I know you, I know what's
in your heart, and I know you believe me, I know you love me,
I know you fear me. Oh, what a reward Abraham had.
When God tells you something, you can believe it. And if he
says, Glenn, you fear me, then you fear him. What a reward. You fear me. And it's this obedience that
Abraham's God delights in. Some of these verses here surrounding
this are amazing to me. Verse 12 and 16 through 18, you
can read them there at your leisure. But it just goes back to what
I was saying before, how the Lord delights to prove his people.
It's amazing to me. And he said, because you've obeyed
my voice, I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that. Because
you did this, I'm going to do great things for you. But maybe the greatest reward
that Abraham had for his obedience, he got a closer view of Christ
the Savior. I would imagine that more than
anywhere else in this chapter, Abraham got a view of the Savior. Abraham rejoiced to see my day,
and he saw it and was glad. When did Abraham see the day
of Christ? Well, there's a lot of places you could go to in
his life and see it, but here in this chapter, look at this.
Here in verse 2, there in the last portion, He said, ìGo offer
him for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I
will tell thee of.î He said, ìGo to the land of Moriah and
offer him there upon one of the mountains that I will tell thee
of.î What did the Lord tell him of concerning this mountain?
Well, I tell you, we know later that this is where the temple
was built, and weíre going to look at that next week. And right
outside that temple, outside the walls, is where the master
was crucified. Go yonder to Mount Moriah. And
there we have it also up there in verse 4. Abraham lifted up
his eyes and he saw the place afar off. Was that the distance
or was that the time? I wonder sometimes. What's going
to take place a few hundred years from now up on this very mountain?
The Savior's coming. The Savior's coming. Right here
is where He's going to hang. Right here is where I'm at. God
told him of this mountain. He saw Christ. And secondly,
think of this. Not only did He tell him of this
mountain, but who did Abraham see lying upon this wood? He goes up the mountain. Everything
he's got with him, boy, just rings your heart out. Barry's
got the wood and he's got it up on Isaac. I wonder who Abraham
saw as he saw Isaac carrying that wood up that hill. Wouldn't
he saw Christ bearing his cross? And he builds that altar and
he lays the wood down. He lays Isaac up on that wood. I wonder who he saw laying there.
And he takes that knife and raises it up. Here's the father ready
to kill his son. He rejoiced to see my day, and
he saw it. If anybody could relate, if this
could be said, and it may sound like blasphemy, but God knows
I don't mean it that way. But if anybody can relate to
the feelings of God in giving His Son, it has to be Abraham. If anybody could possibly begin
to enter in to what it would be, the love that it would take,
To give your only begotten son to suffer, it had to be Abraham.
Because that's what he did. Just as God gave his son, Abraham
gave his. And then what else did Abraham
see? There in verse 13, he saw substitution. The Lord stayed his hand and
said, don't you lay a hand on him. You get him off of that
altar. But Lord, you've got to have a sacrifice. We come up
here to sacrifice. And God said, I've provided one.
He looked around behind him and there's a ram stuck in the thicket.
He took Isaac off the altar and put God's sacrifice on there
instead. Ain't that substitution? And
Abraham saw it. Christ said, he rejoiced to see
my day. And he saw it in this shadow,
this type, this picture of him and his son upon Mount Moriah
by substitution. And he rejoiced, just like you
and I do. Ain't that your hope, substitution? We have no hope apart from heaven.
A life we did not live, a death we did not die, has saved us. Now that's what Abraham said.
And you know what he named that place? Abraham named the place. He said, Lord let me name this
place. Jehovah-Jireh, in the Mount of the Lord. It shall be
seen. What? Christ hanging on a christened
tree, redeeming us in great love. And Abraham saw it. He looked
to it. You and I look back upon it.
Ain't that wonderful? Lord bless His word.