Turn back to Romans chapter 8. Romans 8. Look at verse 32. Verse 32 of Romans chapter 8. He that spared not his own son. but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? I want to take the title from those
first few words there in verse 32. He that spared not his own
son. In 2 Peter 2 verse 4, we read
this, that God spared not the angels that sinned. He cast them into hell and delivered
them into chains and judgment forever. And if we read on in
verse 5 of 2 Peter 2, we'd also see that he spared not the old
world. Back there in the days of Noah,
God saw that the wickedness of man was great, that every imagination
of the thoughts of man was only evil continually. How wicked, I think how wicked
this world is in our time. How wicked must it have been
when God said that the thoughts of man was only evil continually. And it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth. It grieved him at his heart.
And the Lord said, I'll destroy man whom I have created. going to wipe him completely
from the face of the earth. Man, beast, creeping thing, the
fowls there, for it repenteth me that I made them. He spared not the old world.
He spared not Sodom and Gomorrah. He spared not the Egyptians or
the firstborn. Remember that when he passed
through in judgment and he slew the firstborn? When Pharaoh and
his armies were, later on when they were chasing the children
of Israel through the Red Sea, and he collapsed the Red Sea
on them. Not one of them survived. And
you know, I can read those things and I can kind of enter into
that. I can kind of understand that. But listen to this passage again
in Romans 8.32. He spared not his own son. God the Father spared not his
own son. Turn back in the Old Testament
with me to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis 22, we read a parallel
of another father who spared not his own son. Genesis 22, do you have verse
1? It came to pass after these things
that God did He tested. God tried Abraham. And he said unto him, Abraham.
And he said, Behold, here am I. And he said, God said to Abraham,
Take now thy son, thy 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'll tell thee of." I'm
blessed. This thing of sons, I'm blessed
with two sons. I can't imagine that command. I just can't imagine that command. I can't imagine the grief that
would accompany it. And listen, this was Abraham's
only son. This was his heir. This is the
one that's going to carry the family name. I can't imagine the great love
that Abraham had for his father, for Almighty God in his willingness
to sacrifice his son. Take now thy son, thy only son. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
only begotten son of the Father. He's the only son. Take now thy
son, thine only son, whom thou lovest. God said this of the
Lord Jesus Christ, this is my beloved son. And offer him, offer
him for a burnt offering. In Isaiah 53, we read this of
the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt make his soul an offering for
sin. Not just physical suffering,
he suffered like no man ever suffered physically. But his very soul was made an
offering for sin. Let's read on here, Genesis 22
verse 3. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning. So many things here. His obedience. We don't see him questioning
God. We don't see him wringing his
hands. He rose up early in the morning. He didn't lay in bed
thinking, maybe this will just go away. He rose up early in
the morning and took two of his young men with him and Isaac
his son and he claimed the wood for a burnt offering and he rose
up and he went unto the place which God told him. He obeyed God. He spared not his own son. And then on the third day, verse
4, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place afar off. Three days had passed. I just
can't imagine what had to have been going through his head those
three days. And now it says he could see
the place. He could see the place where
he was going to offer up his son as a sacrifice. Abraham had time to consider
what was about to happen. This wasn't done hastily. It
wasn't a rash decision. Three days. But consider that
in the light of the amount of time that it passed till our
Lord was sacrificed. At what point, at what point
did God the Father determine He would sacrifice His only begotten
Son? Scripture declares that Jesus
Christ is the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the
world. Men in our time, they act like
that was some type of a backup plan. That after Adam fell, then
God determined to offer up His Son. Is that the case? Before there was a sinner, before
Adam fell, there was a Savior. God determined to save a people. In 1 Peter 1, verse 18, we read,
for as much as you know, you weren't redeemed with corruptible
things, silver, gold, from your vain conversation received by
tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of
Christ, as of a lamb slain without blemish and without spot, who
verily was foreordained." When? When did God determine? When
did he order it? When did he have knowledge of
it? Before the foundation of the world. Well, Genesis 22 verse
5, 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. We're going to go yonder, we're
going to go worship, and we're going to come again to you. We're going to come back. Now
these servants are left behind. You see that? And once they're
left, who's left? Who remains? I and the lad. Who is that? Abraham and Isaac,
the father and the son. just the Father and the Son. Redemption. Redemption is the
work of the Father and the Son. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world to himself. And yet Christ was in the hands
of and under the wrath of God for our sins. Brother Henry wrote this in one
of his commentaries. Twelve went with him to the Passover. Eleven went with him to the garden. Three went with him to pray. But when he went to the cross, when the Lord Jesus Christ went
to the cross, he went there alone. he that spared not his own son. Look at Genesis 22 verse 6, look
here at our text. Abraham took the wood of the
burnt offering and he laid it upon Isaac his son and he took
the fire in his hand and a knife And they went, both of them,
together. The wood was laid on the sun. Isaac bore it. Isaac carried
it. Consider the Lord Jesus Christ.
What did he bear? He bore the cross. Turn there
to John chapter 19. Turn with me to a few of these
scriptures. John chapter 19. Look at verse 17. And he, bearing his
cross, went forth into a place called the Place of the Skull,
which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha. The Lord Jesus Christ
bore his cross. He bore the sins of his people. Turn to 1 Peter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2. who his own self, 1 Peter 2 verse
24, who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we being dead to sins should live under righteousness by whose
stripes you're healed. He bore the cross. He bore our
sins. He bore the wrath of His Father. He bore the wrath of Almighty
God. Sin. Sin must be punished. Do you believe that? That sin
must be punished? I hear these men talk about health
and wealth, I hear them say things like, God is just waiting to
bless you. Where is that? I always wonder,
these things that are said, where are they found in Scripture? God's Word says this, God is
angry with the wicked every day. God's going to punish sin. How
could that not be any more evident than at the cross? When He poured
out His wrath for sin on His only Son. He punished it in the
person and in the body of His only begotten Son. There on Calvary's cross, when
sin, my sin, the sins of His elect were found on Him, God
slew Him. Isaiah 53.10, just listen, just
listen to these words. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He hath put him to grief. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. He that spared not his own son. Back to Genesis 22. Look at verse 7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham
his father, and he 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. And so they
went, both of them, together. There has to be a sacrifice. Blood has to be shed. God's holy. Almighty God is absolutely
holy. He's righteous. He's just in
all that he does. What about man? That's no description of man,
is it? What about man? He's guilty. He's sinful. He's evil. And there can be no
acceptance, no forgiveness, no communion between God and man
without the shedding of blood. That's what God's Word says.
Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. And not
any blood will do. Only the blood of His Son. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The question, where's the lamb? And Abraham's reply, my son,
God will provide himself a lamb. That's the same message we declare
today. That message has not changed. He that spared not his own son. Listen, God will provide himself
a lamb. He'll provide himself. He himself
as the lamb. He himself is the lamb. What did John the Baptist say
the first time he saw him? Behold the lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. God will provide himself a lamb. Who's the lamb for? Who's that
lamb for? It's for Him. It's for Him. The Lord God is the one who's
been offended here. The lamb is offered to Him. It's offered for Him. And in doing so, He's both just
and justifier of them that believe. Remember when God commanded the
children of Israel to take a lamb? All the way back there, to slay
that lamb and to take that blood and to strike it on the two side
posts and the upper door post of the house. What part of the
house was that? It was the outside of the house.
The children of Israel, when they went inside, they couldn't
see that blood. They knew it was there by faith.
They knew it was there. Who was the blood for? For God. What did He say? When I see the
blood, I will pass over you. God will provide Himself a lamb. Who's going to provide it? The
Lord will. The Lord will. He'll see to it. He'll see to the redemption of
all of His people. The honoring of his law. I can't
honor his law. You can't honor his law. His
justice satisfied. His covenant fulfilled. The eternal
glory of his son accomplished. The work complete. Nothing, not
one thing left undone. That's what our Lord cried on
the cross, wasn't it? It is finished. He, he that spared not his own
son. Do you still have Genesis 22?
Look at verse 9. And they came to the place which
God had told him of, And Abraham built an altar there, and he
laid the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, and laid
him on the altar upon the wood. No doubt, Isaac was a willing,
a willing sacrifice. Abraham was an old man. Isaac
was young and full of strength. He had to be a willing, a willing
sacrifice. In verse 10, Abraham stretched
forth his hand and he 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 lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I
know thou fearest God. seeing that thou hast not withheld
thy son, thy only son, from me. Thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son, from me, which
means this, thou hast not spared thy beloved
son for me." Now, in the case of Isaac, God
provided a substitute. What a glorious, glorious sight
that must have been for him. That ram caught there in the
thicket. That ram was offered up in the
place of Isaac. That ram was slain, the blood
shed, and Isaac went free. Is there anything more glorious
than substitution? Christ is sacrificed. The death I deserve, the punishment
I deserve, the condemnation I deserve, Christ is sacrificed. and the believer goes free. Turn with me back to Romans 8,
verse 32. Look at verse 32 with me. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Listen, God did not spare his
son. He did not withhold Him from
being sacrificed. God gave. God gave His only begotten
Son. Almighty God delivered Him up
to be sacrificed. That word, delivered Him up. Listen to the meaning of this
phrase, delivered Him up. It means to deliver one up to
custody. It means to be judged, to be
condemned, to be punished, to be scourged, to be put to death. That's what Almighty God did
to his son. He spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all." Who is this us all? All that
he foreknew, all that he predestinated, all that he called, all that
he justified, all that he glorified, that ram back there in that ram
in Genesis 22 that was was offered up in the place of Isaac, offered
up in the place of Abraham's son. That's a picture of what
God has done for his people, for what he's done for us. Christ
is sacrificed and his people, his people go free. He suffered
and died in the room instead of his people. God spared not
his own son, but his people are spared. His people are delivered. His people are set free. God spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all. That sin, that which my sin deserved, it was laid on him. He died in
my place. He died in the place of his people. And his death, you know I could
die a thousand deaths. It would never satisfy God, but
his death was accepted, accepted by God. It pleased the Lord to
bruise him. His death satisfied a holy God. Salvation accomplished. Again,
it is finished. He spared not his own son. All right.