Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyberg. I've entitled this morning's
message, Jehovah Jireh, The Lord Will Provide. Now we're going to be looking
at Genesis chapter 22, and most people, I'm sure not all people,
but most people have at least heard of God commanding Abraham
to take his son Isaac and to offer him up as a burnt offering. And when God saw his willingness
to do it, he provided a lamb to take his place. And most people,
when they think of that, they think of, oh, that's something
I just could not do. I could not live up to Abraham's
obedience. I could not live up to Abraham's
faith. How could he actually be willing
to offer up his own son as a sacrifice? I just don't know if I could
render that kind of obedience or if I could have that kind
of faith that Abraham had. Now, if you think that, May I
suggest to you that you've missed the point of this story, and
I pray that God will be pleased to reveal the gospel to you and
I through this story of Abraham in obedience to God, offering
up Isaac. We read in Genesis chapter 22,
beginning in verse one, and it came to pass after these things,
I love the term, and it came to pass in the scriptures, God
purposed it, it came to pass. That is true of everything. God purposed it, it came to pass. It came to pass after these things,
what things? Well, we have about 45 years
of Abraham's history up before then, all the things that he'd
gone through. After these things that God did
tempt or test Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, Now, Abraham
was over 120 years old at this time, and yet he's just now facing
his greatest trial. Abraham, and he said, behold,
here am I. And he said, this is God speaking
to Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac. Was not Ishmael his son? Ishmael's
not acknowledged as a son. Why is that? Because he represents
the law, and the law never makes anyone a son of God. Take now thy son, thy only son,
Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah. Now this is the land that would
one day be where Jerusalem was built. And this very mountain
that Isaac is to be sacrificed on is the same mountain that
the temple was built on. get thee into Moriah, and offer
him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which
I will tell thee of." Now, involved in a burnt offering would be
slitting Isaac's throat, let the blood run out, quartering
him, putting him on an altar, and burning him up to ashes. Now, that is what God called
upon Abraham to do, and somebody is thinking, I could not do that. I understand you thinking that
way, but if God gave you the grace to understand that upon
putting your child to death like this, they would instantly be
raised from the dead, and the Messiah would still come through
this boy, your Savior, if God gave you the grace to believe
that, you'd do it. Now, Abraham believed that. Let me show you this from the
scripture. Verse 5, 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 he's saying, I'm going to
go kill him, but he's going to be raised from the dead. and
we will come again to you. The same thing is said in the
book of Hebrews, chapter 11, beginning in verse 18 or 17,
by faith, Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and
he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten
son, of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called,
accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the
dead, from whence he received him. in a figure. You see, God
had promised that the Messiah would come through Isaac. Abraham believed God. Abraham knew God would never
go back on his word. God would never change his mind.
So if he was called upon to offer up Isaac, God would raise Isaac
up from the dead because God had promised the Messiah would
come through that boy. Abraham fully believed that in
killing his son, God would raise him from the dead. Now let's
go on reading. Verse 3, And Abraham rose up
early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his
young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he claimed the wood
for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of
which God had told him. And in Abraham's mind, the deed
was already done." Then on the third day, there's much significance to
that. When was Christ raised from the
dead? on the third day. As I said, Abraham had already
done this in his mind. And now on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, this mountain
where God told him to sacrifice his son. And Abraham said unto
his young men, Abide ye here with the ass." And he tells these
two young men that accompanied him, you're not going with us. You wait for us until we return. Now, why did Abraham tell these
two young men to not go with him? Well, I have no doubt that
he knew that these two young men would prevent this from happening.
These were two young strong men, and when they saw Abraham getting
ready to slay his son, they would do what they could to stop it.
That's one reason. Another reason is that in this
great type of the gospel, Abraham typifies the father, Isaac typifies
the son, the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ when God slew his
son as the substitute of sinners. Men were shut out. This was a
transaction between the Father and the Son. That's why the sun
quit shining. It was to let us know that we
really don't understand what all was going on. This was a
transaction between the Father and the Son. And Abraham said
unto his young men, abide ye here with the ass, and I and
the lad will go yonder and worship. Now when they were going to Abraham
sacrifice his son, he calls it worship. I've heard people say
that Abraham's obedience was the act of worship. Now I admire
Abraham's obedience, but that's not the act of worship. The act
of worship is sacrifice. Do you remember when God told
Moses to go say to Pharaoh, let my people go that they may go
into the wilderness and sacrifice to me? The only way there is
true worship is through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
wouldn't dare come into God's presence any other way but through
the sacrifice, the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
where the fear of God is seen. You're afraid to look anywhere
but Christ because you know he's a holy God and you're a sinful
man. And the only way you can be accepted
by God is through the sacrifice. That is worship. Anything short
of that is irreverence and is ignorance of the character of
God. Now, he was going to worship, but I love the way he says, I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. You see, Abraham knew that
God was going to raise his son from the dead because of the
promise God had already made. Verse six, and Abraham took the
wood of the bird offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son.
just like the cross was laid upon the back of the Lord Jesus
Christ as he went to Golgotha's hill. 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, What was going to
be used for slaying was carried by Abraham, and this typifies
the God the Father. He is the one who put his son
to death. The Lord was not a victim. He
wasn't murdered by men, although God used men to do this. This
was God doing this. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken and with
wicked hands have crucified and slain. And they went both of
them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father and said, my father. And I'm sure that that went right
through his soul, knowing what he would be soon doing to his
son. Isaac 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. You see, Isaac did not know yet
what Abraham's intentions were, but he had grown up understanding
that God cannot be approached without a lamb. Here's the wood,
here's the fire, where's the Lamb? Which typifies the Lamb
of God, that John would say, Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sins of the world, that would be typified by the
Passover Lamb, where God said, When I see the blood of that
Passover Lamb, I will pass over you. Isaac understood that there's
no sacrifice without the Lamb. So he said, where is the Lamb
for a burnt offering? Every time I preach, if I don't, I should ask myself
the question, where is the Lamb? With regard to every sermon preached,
if the Lamb's not in it, God's not in it. Where is the Lamb? You and I would do well to ask
that question with regard to everything we hear. Where is
the Lamb? If the Lamb's not there, God's
not there, God's not behind it. Paul put it this way in 1 Corinthians
2, verse 2, I determined not to know anything among you, save
Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's the preaching of the Lamb. Here's the wood, here's the fire,
where is the Lamb? for the burnt offering, and then
Abraham gives this amazing answer, and the whole gospel is found
in this statement. And Abraham said, my son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Father, where's
the lamb? God will provide Himself a Lamb
for a burnt offering. Now let me say three things from
that statement, all of which are critical in understanding
the gospel of Jesus Christ and how God saves sinners by the
Lamb of God. Number one, in salvation, God
is the one who does the providing. you and I cannot provide anything
that a holy God could accept. And if you If I think I can,
all we're doing is demonstrating our ignorance of the character
of God and our own character. Because if we knew who God is
and who we are, we would know that there is nothing we could
provide God that he could accept. God is the one who does the providing
and salvation. All that God requires of me,
God provides in the person of his dear son. There's nothing
I can provide, there's nothing I can give to God, there's nothing
I can bring to God that he can accept. He's holy, but everything
he requires, he provides. God will provide a lamb for a
burnt offering. Secondly, God provides for himself a lamb
for a burnt offering. Now what does that mean? For
God to do something for me or you, he first had to do something
for himself. You see, he cannot accept any
man just the way they are because he's holy, because he's just,
because he's righteous. His justice, His righteousness
demands the punishment of sin. God can't just up and change
that. For God to do something for me or you, He first had to
do something for Himself. And that's what the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ is all about. God made a way for Him
to be just and yet justify somebody like me or you. Now, He made
a way for Himself to do that by providing His Son, the Lamb,
to work out a perfect righteousness that we could have never worked
out, and to provide a complete sin-atoning death that we could
have never atoned for. He made a way for Him to be just,
holy, righteous, and yet declare somebody like me, who in and
of myself, I'm not just or righteous, yet He made a way for me to be
justified. without guilt. Perfect. God shall provide for himself
a lamb for a burnt offering. And thirdly, God shall provide
himself as the lamb for the burnt offering. Jesus Christ, God's
Son, is the Lamb of God's providing. That's why He's successful. He's
the Son of God. God shall 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 upon the wood." Now, Abraham was 120
years old at this time. Isaac was 20. Isaac could have
prevented this, He didn't have to allow his father to bind him. He could have overcome his father
when he saw his father lifting up the knife to slit his throat.
But let me tell you what happened. Abraham explained to his son,
the Messiah is coming through you. God has promised it. And so when I kill you, God will
raise you from the dead. So what Isaac did, he did willingly. He didn't have to be gagged and
bound and knocked out to be putting it. No, he did what he did willingly. He believed what his father told
him. And that pictures the willingness
of the Lord Jesus Christ to do all that he did. He said, no
man takes my life from me. I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it up. This
commandment have I received of my Father. Everything the Lord
Jesus Christ did, He did willingly. When the Father made Him sin,
He willingly allowed Himself to be made sin. When the Father
forsook Him, He willingly took that part, not that he wanted
to, he cried, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? But
he willingly did everything that he did in obedience to his father's
will. He said, not my will, but thine
be done. Now, here we have Isaac. laid on the altar upon the wood. And verse 10 says, Abraham stretched
forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Can you imagine the pain he must
have felt in doing so? But he believed God. And he raises up that knife to
cut his son's throat in order to offer him up as a burnt offering
to God. 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 that thou hast not withheld thy
son, thy only son, from me. Now God knew this before this
test. He knows all things. But now
Abraham knows. And Abraham is such a type of
the father, the father spared not his own son. Abraham was
willing to not spare his son, but he didn't have to kill him.
But God killed his son. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. Now look what happens in verse
13, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. That's the same look that is
used when they looked at that serpent on a pole, everybody
that was bitten and whoever looked lived. Abraham lifted up his
eyes and looked, and behold, behind him." That's very significant. Behold, behind him. A ram, a young male lamb. caught in a thicket by his horns,
which prefigured the crown of thorns the Lord Jesus Christ
wore. Now that lamb, I believe, was
already there. Abraham just didn't see it. Perhaps
sometime the night before, a lamb had escaped from its pen, and
it went up the mountain, and all of a sudden it was caught
in the thicket. And so Abraham looks behind him. Now understand this, the reason
for salvation is always behind us. It's something that's already
done. It's not something that has not
yet been done. Faith is like looking in the
rear view mirror. You look in that rearview mirror,
and you're looking ahead as to what you've already passed. Faith
looks ahead to what is already done, what's already behind them. When the Lord said, it is finished,
salvation was finished. And that took place before I
was ever born. As a matter of fact, it took
place before the foundation of the world, because Christ is
called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. 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." The gospel of substitution. A ram offered up in the stead
of Isaac. And that is precisely what the
Lord Jesus Christ was doing on Calvary's tree. Listen real carefully. The sins of God's elect became
his sins. They were lifted off God's elect.
and they were placed in the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
he became guilty of those sins. He never sinned, but he became
guilty of the commission of those sins. And he died in the stead
of his people. And his righteousness is given
to every one of those people that he died for. Substitution. Verse 14, and Abraham called
the name of the place Jehovah-Jireh. As it said to this day, in the
mount of the Lord, it shall be seen. Now, that means several
things. On Mount Calvary, it's seen. how God can be just and yet accept
somebody like me or you. It's C. It could mean, I'll see
to it. God says, I'll see to it. Nothing
for you to do. I'll see to it. And it means
more than anything else, God shall provide. God will provide. Everything I need in salvation,
God provides. And He did this through the bloody
sacrifice of His Son on Calvary's tree. God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Thank
God for the gospel. Now, we have this message on
DVD and CD. If you call the church or write,
we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. To receive a copy
of the sermon you have just heard, send your request to todd.nyberg
at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.