Morning. Let's turn to Genesis
22. Genesis chapter 22. Genesis 22 verse 1. It came to pass after these things
that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham. And he
said, behold, here I am. He said, Take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of
the mountains, which I will tell thee of. And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and 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 afar off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, 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 a 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's 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. And 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 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 the 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. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh,
as it is said to this day in the Mount of the Lord, it shall
be seen. Let's pray together. Lord, we come to you in the name
of your son. We're thankful for this passage of scripture. We're
thankful for your word and that you've seen fit to preserve this
word for us this day. Lord, we ask that we might hear
from you this morning that you would be exalted and lifted up
and then we might see your glory and our need of a savior. We
ask that you would please be merciful to us and be merciful
to our loved ones. Be merciful to our children.
Pass it in all things that you might receive all glory and praise
and that we might think more of you through this passage.
We might see our need of you more through this passage. It's
in Christ's name and for Christ's sake that we pray, amen. Turn
over to John chapter five. John chapter five, verse 39. John five, verse 39. These are the Lord's words. John
539 says, search the scriptures for in them you think you have
eternal life, and they are they which testify of me. This story,
along with every story in the word, is given to testify of
Christ. And in this story, we're gonna see a picture of the Father,
the Son, and of the sacrifice that was made at the cross. Now,
we wanna see Abraham and Isaac in this story, as sinners just
like us, we can learn from that, but we wanna look beyond Abraham
and Isaac. And we want to see Christ exalted
and lifted up and see our Savior crucified. I'll turn back to
Genesis 22, verse 1. Genesis 22, verse 1. It says, and it came to pass
after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him,
Abraham, And he said, behold, here I am. It says it came to
pass after these things. Now what things are spoken of?
There was a big backstory to this, to Genesis 22. The Lord
promised Abraham a son in his old age. It says in Genesis 15
verse five, this is the Lord speaking to Abraham. And he brought
him forth abroad and said, look now towards heaven and tell the
stars if I'll be able to number them. And he sent it unto him,
so shall thy seed be. Now Sarah's Sarah and Abraham
are old at this time they cannot have children naturally but the
Lord says I'm going to bless your seed greatly I'm going to
provide you with a son and I'm going to bless your seed greatly
and then you have the story of Ishmael. Years go by they don't
have children and Sarah tells Abraham go into Hagar and that's
how the Lord's will will be done we'll help this come to pass. Now Ishmael represents man's
work. and man's hand, it represents the covenant of works. Now turn
to Genesis 17. Genesis 17, verse 16. This is
after Ishmael is born. After Ishmael's born, this is
the Lord speaking about Sarah. He says, and I will bless her
and give thee a son also of her. Yea, I will bless her and she
shall be a mother of nations. Kings of people shall be of her.
Then Abraham fell upon his face and laughed and said in his heart,
shall child be born unto him that is a hundred years old?
And shall Sarah that is 90 year old bear. And Abraham said unto
God, O that Ishmael might live before thee. And God said, Sarah
thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed. And thou shalt call his
name Isaac. And I will establish my covenant
with him for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him.
Turn to Genesis 21. Genesis 21 verse 1. It says, and the Lord visited
Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had
spoken. For Sarah conceived and bare
Abraham a son in his old age at the set time of which God
had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of
his son that was born unto him, who Sarah bare him, Isaac. As
the Lord always does, he did exactly what he said he was going
to do. It said, he visited Sarah as he had said. He did unto Sarah
as he had spoken at the time he had appointed. He did exactly
what he said he was going to do regardless of their unbelief
and going into Hagar to do their part. He still did what he said
he was going to do. The big takeaway from the backstory
and Isaac in general there's nothing random about Isaac. There's
nothing significant about Isaac. Isaac was sent. He was provided
for by the Lord. They couldn't have children naturally.
They're over 100 years old both of them. The Lord sent Isaac.
John 6.38 says, for I came down from heaven, not to do mine own
will, but the will of him that sent me. In the same way that
Isaac was sent into this world, not of man, but of Christ, the
Son was sent into this world. And that's what Isaac's gonna
picture in this story. I'll turn back to our text, Genesis 22,
verse one. It says, and it came to pass
after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto
him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here I am. Tempt means to try.
He's going to try Abraham, he's going to send Abraham a trial
at this time. Abraham has had a lot of trials
in his life up to this point, this is going to be his greatest
trial though. Verse two, and he said, take now thy son, thine
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and offer him there for burnt offering upon one of the
mountains, which I will tell thee of. Lord gives a very clear
command here. He says, take Isaac, the one
I sent, the one I provided, not Ishmael, not the one that's of
man's hands, take Isaac and offer him for burn offering. This is
a very difficult command to be given. I don't know how else
to say it. It's just, I mean, I think about
what it would be like to be told this, and we can all think about
that. This is not something anybody wants to be told, is to take
their boy and sacrifice him. Why would the Lord command this?
All this backstory. I mean, he promised him a son
in his old age. And then you have the story of Ishmael. Then
Isaac is born. Then Ishmael and Hagar are cast
out. There's all this big backstory. And then when Isaac is around
20 years old, he tells him to go sacrifice him. Why would he
do this? Turn to Isaiah 14. Isaiah 14, verse 24. This is
when the Lord judged Assyria. Isaiah 14, verse 24. Isaiah 14, 24, it says, the Lord
of hosts has sworn, saying, surely, as I have thought, so shall it
come to pass, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand, that I will
break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread him
underfoot. Then shall his yoke depart from off them, his burden
depart from off their shoulders. This is the purpose that is purposed
upon the whole earth, and this is the hand that is stretched
out upon all nations. For the Lord of hosts hath purpose
and who shall disannul it and his hand is stretched out and
who shall turn it back. This is a very powerful passage
that speaks on the Lord's purpose. There is purpose behind everything
he does and there's purpose behind this command. Abraham might not
see that this time. If the Lord came to me and told
me to do this I don't think I'd see the purpose in it. We don't
see the purpose in everything in our lives. There's always
purpose with God, always. And there's going to be purpose
in this story that we're going to see. All right, back to our text.
Genesis 22, verse 3. Genesis 22, verse 3. Says, and Abraham rose up early
in the morning and saddled his ass and took two of his young
men with him and Isaac, his son, and claimed the wood for the
burnt offering and rose up and went under the place of which
God had told him. Abraham doesn't tarry. He doesn't wait. He rose
early in the morning. He did what the Lord told him
to do. Verse four. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place far off. And Abraham said
unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. Now, why
does he tell the men to stay? Well, first of all, the Lord
didn't tell him to take those men. He said, take Isaac. Secondly, and more importantly,
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ was between two people, the Father
and the Son. Turn to John 3 for a second,
John chapter 3. John chapter 3 verse 34 says, for he whom God hath sent
speaketh the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit by
measure unto him. The father loveth the son and
hath given all things. into his hand. Now there's no
greater example of that last verse the father loved the son
and have given all things into his hand than the cross. The
father gave the sins of his people to the son and the son went and
bore them and was punished by the father for those two people. Sin was given to the son the
sin died the son died and the father was the one that punished
him. What was man's involvement? We just hope and pray that our
sins were in the Son when he died. But as far as the accomplished
work of the cross, and as far as who did that, that was the
Father and the Son, that was Jesus Christ. He said, I and
the lab will go yonder and come again to you. Turn back to Genesis
22, verse five. Genesis 22, verse five. Abraham said unto his young men,
abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. How can Abraham say he's
gonna come again? God told him to sacrifice his
son, didn't he? Why can he say they're gonna come again? Look
back in Genesis 17 verse 19. We've already read this. This
is the covenant that the Lord made. He made this with Abraham
and with Isaac. Genesis 17 verse 19, and God
said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed. and thou shalt
call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him
for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him. When
we read this story we need to keep in mind the Lord has already
made a covenant. He has already said I am going
to be with Isaac and with his seed after him and Isaac has
not had children yet. And so Abraham is given the grace
to trust in that covenant at this time. that they are coming
back down that mountain because he already promised that he was
going to be with Isaac and be with his seed after him and the
Lord never breaks his covenants. Because of that Abraham can say
in all honesty we're going to worship we're going to come again
to you. This covenant represents the
covenant of grace. Uncle Todd preached a few weeks
ago. on the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. In
Hebrews 13 verse 20 says, now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That's
the covenant that's pictured here. When he says we're going
and we're coming again, we can say that because of the blood
of the everlasting covenant. Back to Genesis 22 verse six. Verse six. 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 a knife and they went both
of them together. And Isaac spake on 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's the lamb for
a burnt offering. Now one of the things in the
scriptures when you read that is abundantly clear is we have
to have a lamb. We are not going to come into
the Lord's presence and find favor and find acceptance outside
of the lamb. You can see that in Cain and
Abel. You can see that in the Passover. You can see that in
this story of Abraham and Isaac and you can see that in many
more. We have to have a lamb. So when he asked this question
where is the lamb. There's really no more important
question that we can ask than where is the lamb. And that's
what we look for. We look for that when we hear
the gospel preached when we read the scriptures when we go to
him in prayer. Where is the lamb? Now I'll just speak personally
on this. I find myself looking for a lot
of other things too. I'll give you a few examples.
I struggle with doubt a lot. Doubt that I do know the Lord.
Doubt that I am one of his people. And on those days I'm looking
for assurance that he is who he said he is and that I am one
of his and that he would love someone like me. Other days I
might be struggling with a trial or just weariness of this world.
And on those days I look for rest through the gospel. I look
for the Lord to be my comfort. Probably the thing that I find
myself looking for more than anything is light because I feel
like I'm in darkness. I just don't see the Lord all
the time. I hear the gospel preached I know it's the gospel I read
his word I know it's his word. I just I feel like I'm in darkness
and I need light on those days. Now, you can add a lot of things
to that list that we look for. But let's just take these three,
assurance, rest, and light. You know where all that's found?
That's all found in the lamb. Every bit of it. You find the
lamb, you find assurance. You find the lamb, you find rest.
You find the lamb, you find light. Whatever, we're all different
people. We all probably look at things a little differently.
Whatever you need today and you're looking for, and whatever you're
going to need tomorrow, Look to the lamb because the lamb's
the material thing we all need. We're all different people but
we all need this. We all need the lamb. Whatever
you're looking for you'll find it in the lamb. Now who is the
lamb? It's answered in the next verse,
verse 8. And it's one of the glorious things about scripture.
Scripture's not going to ask a question and then leave it
to us to find the answer. It's going to ask a question
and the answer is in the word somewhere. It's not always in
the next verse but it is answered. Here, thankfully, it's in the
next verse, verse eight. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went
both of them together. First thing we see about this
lamb is that God's gonna have to provide it. It's not gonna
come a man's hand. Didn't say God will provide Abraham a lamb
or Abraham will provide God a lamb. God will provide himself a lamb. It's something the Lord's gonna
have to do. Who is the lamb? That's the question, who is the
lamb? Turn to John 1, John 1 verse 29. This is so simple, this answer
of where is the lamb, who is the lamb, John 1 verse 29. The
next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and sayeth behold the
lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Here's
the answer. John seeth Jesus coming in unto him and said behold
the lamb of God. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice what the lamb does. It says the lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. This lamb is not passive. It's
active. It does things. It has already
done things it does things today. and it has accomplished something.
It taketh away sin from the world. This is the lamb we need. This
is the lamb Isaac needs right now. He needs not a lamb that
is a picture. He needs the actual lamb. We
need the actual lamb. We need the Lord to save us.
Verse nine, Genesis 22, verse nine. Genesis 22, verse nine. Says, and 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. Now, there's no struggle here.
Abraham is over 120 years old at this time, and Isaac, from
what I can read, is around 20. If Isaac didn't want to be bound,
he wouldn't have been bound. I mean, he could easily overtake
his father in this old age. Was there a struggle at the cross,
though? Did the son not want to be there?
Was he being forced by man to be there? Was he being forced
by his father to be there? Turn to Philippians 2. Philippians
2, verse 5. Philippians 2, verse 5. As we read this, just ask yourself,
does this sound like a struggle? Does this sound like somebody
that was being forced? Philippians 2, verse 5. Let this
mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in
the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God,
but made himself of no reputation and took upon himself the form
of the servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being
found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross. There was no struggle
at the cross. He wanted to be there. He was
doing what he had purpose to do. It says he took upon him
the form of a servant. It says he humbled himself and
it said he became obedient unto death. The power of he became
obedient unto death, it's almost too much to think about. I mean,
he had to be obedient. He had to let death take him.
That's how sovereign he is. That's how in control he is.
And he did it. He did. He was obedient unto
death for his people. Verse 10, Genesis 22 verse 10. It says, and Abraham stretched forth
his hand and took the knife to slay his son. It's really happening. He is about to slay his son.
It was as good as done in Abraham's mind. It said in verse one that
God did tempt Abraham, that he's gonna try him, that he's gonna
send him to trial, and he tried him greatly. He tried him until
the very end. He had the knife raised to slay
his son. One of the most powerful things
that I see in this passage is in what a way the Lord's with
Abraham during this. If Abraham's going to do this
and if any of us would do this we know the Lord would have to
move our every step not just help us do it he'd have to force
us to do this every step of the way and that's what he did for
Abraham. Now he gave Abraham a command,
a very hard command, but he turned around and he gave him the ability
to do it and carry it out. And that's what he does for us.
Now in this book, we are commanded to do things. We're commanded
to believe on him and him alone. We're commanded to worship him
and him alone. And we're commanded to trust him and him alone. And
we're commanded to do a few other things too. Just like this, the
Lord does not give that command and then take his hands off and
say, just do what I said. That'd be a disaster. None of
us would do what he said, not one of them. He gives commands
and then he gives the ability to do them. That's his power,
that's his love. He's not going to give a command
that we can't keep. So when he says, I command that you believe
on me, I command that you worship me, I command that you trust
me, his people actually can do that. Now it's not of us it's
of him he gives that ability. He actually does give us that
ability to do that. And Abraham in this story is a picture of
the father. Anybody that's going to be a
picture of the father that's going to be somebody that the
Lord is with in an extremely powerful and moving way. And
he was in this story. Verse 11 says in the angel of
the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said Abraham Abraham.
And he said here am I. God intervenes. You know in the
scriptures it says but God. Ephesians 2 verse 4 says but
God who's rich in mercy. That's what happened right here.
He had the he had his hands stretched with the knife. He was about
to slay Isaac. But God who's rich in mercy. And he has all
of all the Lord's people have a nice knife raised against him
for sin. We've sinned against him. We're guilty of it. And
if the Lord doesn't show us mercy that knife is going to be cut.
is going to come down and we're going to feel God's eternal wrath
but God who is rich in mercy. That's what keeps that knife
from coming down because he's merciful. Verse 12, 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 the
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. This is the result of God who's rich in mercy. He sent
the ram in the stead of Isaac. This whole story, Isaac's been
a picture of the son, but right here we see it change. Isaac's
no longer a picture of the son. He's a picture of the sinner
saved by grace. He's a picture of the believer of God's elect. He has a hope now through that
ram. And we have the same hope. We
need the same thing Isaac needs at this time. And if the Lord
will show us mercy and he has provided the ram for us, just
like Isaac, instead of that knife coming down, we just get to walk
down the mountain with our dad. Think about them walking down
that mountain. Think about how thankful they were, how gracious
they were, how they thought more of the Lord. Think about how
they loved him, Isaac because he wasn't sacrificed, Abraham
because he didn't have to sacrifice his boy and see him die. We see
more of the Lord through this. What a blessing. Verse 14. 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. Jehovah-Jireh means the Lord
will provide or the Lord will see to it. How did he provide
in this story? He provided Abraham with a promise
that he was going to have a son and then he turned around and
provided him with that son. He provided Abraham and Isaac with
an everlasting covenant, the covenant of grace. He provided
Abraham with a command. Abraham never would have thought
in a million years to do that. To go to some random mountain
and sacrifice his 20-year-old son, he never would have thought
to do that. But the Lord provided that command. And then he provided
him the ability to carry it out. He provided Isaac with the question,
where is the lamb? He provided Abraham with the
answer, God will provide himself a lamb. He provided all the means,
the wood, the fire, the knife. He provided the mountain and
he provided that ram. And the Lord has provided a ram
for his people through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
provided all as he always does. He has provided all for us already
before we were ever on this earth, he was providing for his people.
He provides for us today, currently. As we sit here, he is providing
for us, and he is going to provide for us in the future. And as
we leave this world, he will provide as he always does for
his people. All right.