Genesis 22. Verse 1 says, And it came to
pass after these things. After these things. These three words contain Many
things that cover the entire life of an old believer after
these things. An entire life. A life of idolatry
for 75 years. Abraham, his father, his brother,
his people lived in idolatry. for seventy-five years after
these things. And then God called him out of
his father's house to go to a land that He would show him. And Abraham
left. And after many glorious promises,
took him out to behold the stars, promised him a son after the
birth of Ishmael, what I preached about this morning, all of God's
marvelous provisions, because Abraham never owned any land.
He was a sojourner. He dwelt in tents with Isaac
after many trials and troubles. And after he had entered into
a peaceful, peaceful coexistence in the land of the Philistines,
with the king of that land. Ishmael was gone, Isaac was home. Growing up, now a teenage boy,
Abraham made a covenant with the kings of the land to live
in peace. Let's read about it back in the
preceding chapter. Verse 22 of Genesis 21. It came to pass at that time
that Abimelech the chief captain of his host,
spake unto Abraham, saying, God's with thee, and all that thou
doest. We'll skip on down to verse 27. And Abraham took sheep and oxen,
and gave them to Abimelech. Both of them made a covenant.
Verse 31, Wherefore he called that place Beersheba, the well
of the because there they swear, both of them, Abraham and Abimelech. Thus they made a covenant at
Beersheba. Then Abimelech rose up, and Phicol,
the chief captain of his host, they returned unto the land of
the Philistines. And Abraham planted a grove,
a tree, in Beersheba, and called there on the name of the Lord,
the everlasting God. And Abraham sojourned in the
Philistines' land. Peace. Joy. After these things. What was
he now? 115? 120? Verse 1 of chapter
22. After these things, God did try
Abraham. God didn't try Abraham to sin. God doesn't tempt any man to
sin. God doesn't try any man to do evil. God is going to try
Abraham to prove Him. To prove Him. You see, this man
is the father of true Israel. This is no ordinary, as Brother
Scott Richardson said, man that came into town on the back of
a pickup truck. This is Abraham. This is the
father of the faith. This is a man that's going to
be an example to those who come after him. Pattern of true faith. And God's going to try him. Now
listen to me, the Lord did not try Abraham so severely. This is a severe trial. As I
said this morning, if God deals with us, if the Lord God deals
with us, Like John Fleming said, in mysterious ways, but powerful
ways. God deals with his people in
ways that they learn the lesson and never forget it. He deals
severely. And he's going to try Abraham,
severely. Strong trial. And he's not going
to try Abraham in order for him to know Abraham. He knew Abraham. You know, down here in verse
12, I'd like to change King James translation here because
God said in verse 12, Lay not thy hand upon the land, neither
do thou anything to him. For now I know that you fear
God. You reckon God didn't know that
already? Well, you know He did. He knew Abraham. Abraham's his
workmanship. Abraham's strength is God's strength. Abraham's grace is God's grace. Abraham's perseverance is God's
preservation. God's trying Abraham, number
one, that others may know he fears God. That it may be known. So I'd like to read that this
way. And I don't believe it'd do any violence at all, for now
it is known. It's clear. There's no doubt
about it. You fear God. This thing's been
settled because you've given up your dearest, dearest possession,
your son. Now it's known. Now it's known. God did try Abraham, not that
he might know Abraham, but that it might be known, that it might
be settled, that Abraham might know it, that Abraham might know
it, that he might be an example to us to strengthen Abraham's
faith and to wean Abraham from any self-sufficiency or any divided
heart. What God's doing to Abraham here
is Abraham's saying like top lady, in my hands no price I'll
bring. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
Whom have I on earth but thee? Give up everything, everything. God is trying, our Lord God is
trying Abraham that it might be known, that it might be shown,
that it might be revealed, that it might be settled. Anybody
here got any doubts about Abraham appearing to God? No, we don't. God never did have any doubts
about it. But now the whole world knows
it. I want to read you a scripture over in 1 Corinthians. Turn over
here just a moment. And this applies to everybody
here who, 1 Corinthians chapter 7, everybody here, including
this preacher that has any interest in a saving relationship with
God Almighty through Christ. In 1 Corinthians 7 verse 29,
but this I say, brethren, time is short. Time is short. It remaineth that both they that have wives
be as though they had none, and they that weep as though they
wept not. And they that rejoice as though they rejoice not, and
they that buy as though they possess not, and they that use
this world as not abusing it, for she's passing away. The passion
of this world is passing away. Somebody said every worldly relationship,
every possession, and every gift is just temporary. We may weep, but weeping endureth
for the night, joy comes in the morning. Even your trials are
temporary. We may rejoice, but even that's
temporary, for the fashion of this world passeth away. The
cause of our rejoicing may be gone tomorrow. We may buy and
sell, but we don't own anything. We may buy and sell, but we possess
not. We don't own anything. And they that use this well ought
to hold it with a loose hand, because it's passing away. Well,
let's go back to the text and let's see what God says to Abraham. He said, Abraham, verse 1, Abraham
said, Here, behold, here I am. And he said, Abraham, take now
thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee
into the land of Moriah. Take thy son, not an ox, not
a lamb, not a bullock, not even a servant. Take your son, your only son,
son of the beloved Savior, son of promise, your heir, the one
whom you love, the Son in whom your seed shall be, Isaac. And sacrifice Him, look, and
offer Him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains that
I'll tell thee of." The Jews, I read something this
week, the Jews represent this conversation in this way. It's
very interesting. This was written a long time
ago. The Lord came to Abraham. He
said He did try Abraham. He said, Abraham, here I am.
Abraham, take your son. Abraham thought, I have two sons. Take thine only son. Both are
only sons of their mothers, he might have thought. Whom thou
lovest. I love both of them. Isaac. Oh, that's the end of the conversation. Isaac. Our Lord said, Abraham
saw my day. He rejoiced to see my day. He
saw it and was glad. I believe right here Abraham
saw the day and the love of God in giving his son for sinners. But I want you to see something
that must have It must have struck her deeply into the heart of
this man. Look at this verse 2 again. And
he said, Now take your son, and let's get her down to the, what
I'm talking about God says, your only son, Isaac, whom you love,
and get thee into the land of Moriah. That's where Jerusalem
will be later, later will be built. Moriah, Jerusalem. And offer him there for a burnt
offering. Do you know What happens when
you offer a burnt offering? I know you do. Isaac did too. Abraham did. When you take a burnt offering,
first of all, you take the lamb and bind it and put it on the
altar and cut its throat. A lot of times we think about
Abraham raising the knife. He raised that knife to cut the
throat. That's what they did. They cut the throat of the lamb,
caught the blood. After cutting the lamb's throat,
they cut the body up into quarters. They quarter the pieces. And
they take each piece and lay it separately upon their altar.
And then they light the fire and stand there while it's burned
to ashes. That's what God said to that old man. You take your
son up on Mount Moriah. I'll show you the place. And
you cut his throat and quarter his body. put it on the altar
and set it on fire. You can be sure of this, while
this whole affair is God trying Abraham, Isaac in all of this
is a picture of Christ, the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaac is a pattern and picture
and type of Christ, the heir, the eternal Son of God, the heir
in whom are all the promises of God. He is the seed. And God, out of His great love
for His elect, actually spared not His own Son, but He bruised Him, and smote Him, and
shed His blood, and burned Him on that cross for our sin. He was roasted in the divine
by thirst. By thirst. Burning up with fever,
hanging on that cross. Bleeding and blood dripping in
the sand. And that's what God said to him.
Verse 3, it says, Abraham rose up early in the morning. It was
probably at night God spoke to him. And early in the morning,
as the sun was rising, Abraham rose up. And he didn't tell anybody. Isaac didn't know. But you know,
when he went up the mountain, he said, where's the lamb? He
didn't know what was going on. He certainly didn't tell Sarah.
He didn't tell these young men. But he rose up early in the morning,
saddled his ass, took two of his young men with him. And Isaac,
his son, went out and cut the wood himself. I believe he cut
the wood himself. That's what it says, doesn't
it? He claimed the wood for the burn off. And he rose up, and
he went to the place where God, of which God had told him. And
it was no rash decision. See, this took, this was actually
a two-day journey, three days involved. At night, God told
him. Next morning, he rose up. It's
40 miles from there, Beersheba, where he lived, 40 miles to Mount
Moriah, to Jerusalem. Jerusalem wasn't there, but that's
where Jerusalem will be. He rose up that morning early
and saddled an ass that saw this 120-year-old man cut the wood
with tender hands, got his knife and sharpened it, and saddled that ass and called
those two fellas to go along with him. They started to journey
all that day, spent the night, all the next day and spent the
night. And on the third day, in the morning, he saw Mount
Moriah. Most everybody believes that's
Mount Calvary. It's right there where Mount
Calvary is. It's where Jerusalem is. He said, on the third day,
Abraham lifted up his eyes. And what I'm saying is this is
no rash decision. This is time to consider his
obedience is sufficiently tried. Sufficiently tried. All right,
verse 5. He saw the place afar off. Different
people and different things I read tried to show how he knew the
place. Smoke was coming from it. God sent a pillar of fire
over. I don't know about that. I don't know. But Abraham knew
where it was. God showed him where it was.
He showed him. Everybody wants to glamorize
things. This is just hard facts. God showed him where it was.
He saw it. He saw it. God leads a man somewhere. He'll
show him where he gets there. Abraham said to the young men,
about ye here with the ash, now listen carefully to this, and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again. I and the lad will go and I and
the lad will be back. He knew that. He didn't take
those young men up there with him. Several reasons why. First of all, this experience
of sacrifice for sin involves only the Father and the Son.
That's right. The Father and the Son. The Father
and His Son. Abraham and Isaac are pictures
of the Father and the Son. This is Mount Calvary. This is
several hundred years later. Our Lord and the Father went
up there. He walked the winepress of wrath
alone. Alone. I and my Father who is with me,
He said. with me. But Abraham did not
want to take those young men. Besides, the young men wouldn't
understand. They wouldn't understand what
he was doing. You see, great things, great
things are not for the curious. People who are curious don't
learn anything. People who are seekers learn
something. But great things are not for the curious. Great things
are for the enlightened. Isaac's going to stand, though
he's 17 years old, but he's going to stand. And Abraham understands. But
these boys, these young men, would never enter into this.
And this, unfortunately, if we go and preach and preach and
preach these grand and glorious truths of substitution, and if
you know, you know, and if you don't, you don't. But those who
know rejoice, and those who don't are curious. They know something's
different, but they don't know what's different. Besides, these
young men might have stopped Abraham. He's 120 years old. And when he took that young man,
Isaac didn't resist. Isaac's Christ, he learned obedience.
Though he were a son, he learned obedience for the things he suffered.
This young man, knew his father, loved his father, trusted his
father, and knew his father knew God. And Isaac never resisted. This old man bound that young
man and laid him on that rock without a murmur. But these young
men, if they'd gone up and he'd raised that knife, they'd have
stopped him. They'd have stopped him. They'd have said, you've
lost your mind. And that's what they say to believers
now, you've lost your mind. No, we finally got a mind. We finally got a mind, some wisdom
that knows God. I was listening to old Rex Humbard
one time, and he was talking about the cross. You remember
him? He finally faded away, like old
soldiers that don't die, they just fade away. If I'm glad he
faded, I wish some more of us faded away in a hurry. But anyway,
he was preaching on the cross, and he was crying, talking about
how the Lord suffered. And he said, if I'd have been
there, I'd have stopped it. I thought, you don't know the
gospel. Any man talking about stopping
the crucifixion, that's what these young men would have done,
is stopped it. Stopped it. He says, I and the lad will go
yonder and worship, and we'll be back. Abraham believed God
would raise that young boy from the dead. See, he had already
sacrificed him. That old man, see, so that old
man had already sacrificed him when he cut that wood and sharpened
that knife and saddled that house. Saddled that house. See, he had
already, in his heart, already sacrificed him. He didn't have
to sacrifice him. He'd already done it. As far
as he was concerned, that boy was dead and raised. And now he's just going through
the motions. He just carried out what God told him to do.
So look at verse 6, And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering,
and laid it upon Isaac his son. Isaac's a full-grown, strong
young man, able to carry it. And in this, he's a picture of
Christ who bore his cross. They laid his cross on him, and
he bore it to Calvary. And here, Isaac's walking up
that mountain, carrying that wood. Christ walking up Mount
Calvary, carrying that cross. I'll tell you something else
the Lord carried up that hill, and that's our sins. He not only
laid the cross on Him, He laid our sins on Him. He bore them
on here in His body. And here comes, looky here, looky
here. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid
it on Isaac, his son. And the Father took the fire
in His hand. the power that would burn his
son, and the knife that would take his life, and they went
together. You see what I see? If you do, you see the gospel.
The Father and the Son, Almighty God the Father and Christ the
Son, going up Calvary's mountain. The Father, he pleased God to
bruise him. He was smitten of God and afflicted. God made his soul an offering
for sin. The son carries the cross and
the sin. The father carries the knife
and the fire. He said fire, you see, was in
a vessel. This is only the second time
fire is mentioned in the Bible. I don't know who was the inventor
of fire. I read something about that, but it doesn't make any
difference. But he didn't have a match. He carried it in some
kind of container. Some kind of container. But it
shows the father. with the fire and the knife to
take the life of His Son, the Son bearing the cross. And Isaac,
oh, I love this right here, and Isaac spake and said, my father,
Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, my father, aren't
you glad that we can call God Father? My father, Abba Father,
my father. Hear him out, my son. And he
said, Father, behold the fire and the wood, where is the lamb?
A burnt offering. This young man knows something,
doesn't he? This young man had witnessed many sacrifices. This
young man had been taught well by our believer Abraham. This young man knows that sin
brings forth death. This young man knows that soul
that sinneth should surely die. This young man knows that God
throughout the Scriptures has declared that the blood that
maketh atonement for the soul, without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission. God shows throughout the Scriptures
how sin is to be purged, purged. Where's the Lamb? He knows there
can be no forgiveness, no approach to God, no grace, no pardon,
no atonement without the death of the Lamb. I'd like to ask
all who preach today, in your messages, where's the Lamb? It's
no good news without the Lamb. I'd like to ask all those who
go to churches today and go through the motion of worshipping, where's
the Lamb? Where's the Lamb? How do you
approach God without a Lamb? In every home in Egypt there
was a death. No preacher. There was no death
in the Israelites' home. Yes, there was. A lamb died.
A lamb died. There was a death in every home. When the judgment for sin came
through that country, every home suffered death. In the home of
the unbelievers, it was a firstborn. In the home of the believers,
it was a substitute. Where's the lame? I ask those
who profess forgiveness. They say, well, I'm saved. I'm
a child of God. I'm forgiven. I'm on my way to
heaven. Tell me about your lamb. Where's
the lamb? Were you saved without a lamb?
I ask each of us, where's my lamb? Where's your lamb? Well,
my lamb is typified by Abel's sacrifice. My lamb is prophesied
right here in this scripture by Abraham. My Lamb is personified
in Isaiah 53. He's led as a lamb to the slaughter.
As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, he opened not his mouth.
My Lamb is identified by John the Baptist. Behold, the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world. My Lamb was crucified
outside the walls of Jerusalem on this same mountain. My Lamb
is glorified at the right hand of God. There's my Lamb. He's
Christ, the Lamb of God. And now Abraham answered the
boy, let's camp here a minute. And Abraham said, my son, my
son, God will. God will. I love the wills and
the shalls of God's Word. God might. No, God will. God
will provide. God will see to it. If He doesn't
see to it, we've no hope. But God will, and God will provide
Himself, heal Himself, He'll provide a lamb. God Himself will
provide the lamb. And God will provide for Himself
a lamb, because the sin is against Him. It's unto God the lamb is
offered. It's before God the blood is
shed. It's God who must be just and
justified. It's God whose anger and enmity
must be reconciled. He'll provide for Himself a lamb,
and He'll provide Himself the lamb. He provides it all. The Father and the Son, together. They went scissors twice here.
They went both of them together. And that's all, nobody else.
The redemptive work of the people of God took place between the
Father and the Son. The Lord didn't die to impress
you or me, the one. He died to justify sinners and
to reconcile God. He didn't die to impress anybody. He didn't die to win your sympathy.
He died to win your salvation before God. That's right. And
He has secured it too. And here's a picture of it, and
they came to the place which God told him of, and Abraham
built the altar, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac
his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Abraham
stretched forth his hand, took the knife to cut his throat.
And the angel of the Lord, the Lord God Himself, called unto
him out of heaven, said, Abraham. He said, Here am I. He said,
Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything to him.
But now it is known, now it is settled, no doubt about it, ye
fear God. Ye fear 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 a burnt offering in the
stead of his son. That's another picture of our
redemption. Nobody offered themselves in the stead of Christ. Christ
offered Himself in our stead. And here, look at this. Can you
imagine the joy and the happiness in that old man's heart when
he took that son from that altar? Took the rope off of him. Abraham
took the rope off of Isaac and set him free, put that ram on
the altar and sacrificed him in the stead of his son. I've
tried to visualize the joy and happiness in that old man's heart
that flooded his soul as he took his son from the altar and clutched
him to his heart. How long he stood there, I wouldn't
have any idea. How long he praised God, I wouldn't
have any idea. But he stood on the top of that
mountain and hugged that boy to his heart And I imagine he
kept saying to Isaac, I told you he'd provide. I told you. The Lord will provide. I told
you, son. I told you. Never, never doubted. He's never failed me. All these
years, God will provide. I told you he would. I never
doubted, he said. I knew he would. I told you.
So the Lord will see to it. He always will. Jehovah-Jireh. That's your watchword. That's your foundation. That's
your hope. That's your peace. That's your comfort. The Lord
will provide. He will. Alas, and did my Savior
bleed and did my Sovereign die? Would He devote that sacred head
for such a worm as I? At the cross, at the cross, for
I first saw the light, and the burden of my heart rolled away.
It was there. By faith, I receive my sight. And it's there I'm going to camp.
It's there I'm going to stay. It's there I'm going to wait
until He calls me home at the cross. And I say, let the legalists
and the Pharisees stand around Sinai and talk about the smoke
and the lot. It'll be all right. I'm going
to the cross. And I let the religious world
build them a manger nativity scene and stand around and sing
Christmas Carol. I'm going to the cross. And I'll
let the ceremonialists go bathe in Jordan, get re-baptized in
Jordan. National Geographic this month
got a sad picture. A young man named Jerry from
Chattanooga, Tennessee. He's a physicist or a technician
in nuclear or something like that. He's a lay preacher. And
he went over to Jordan to get rebaptized in the River Jordan.
And National Geographic got a picture of him. He's coming up out of
the water with Tennessee written across his chest. And he said,
I can hear God say now, this is my son Jerry, and I'm well
pleased. It's all right. I'm going to
the cross. I'm not going to Jordan. going
to Jordan. Let the scholars and the theologians
sift the sands of the Valley of Megiddo and wait for Armageddon. I'm going to wait at Calvary. And let the idolaters visit the
Holy Land and walk the hills. But let you and me and all of
us here find no place in which to glory or to rest except at
the cross. where I first saw the light,
and the burden of my heart rolled away. It was there by faith I
received sight. I saw. I saw. God opened my eyes like He did
Hagar's to see the well. Let's sing that song. It's number
129. Number 129. At the cross, at the cross, Isaac
watched great old him