And it came to pass after these
things, after these things, that God
did try Abraham. Abraham had been tried before. In fact, he was one of the most
tried men in the scriptures. After these things, God did try
Abraham. We go back to the time when Abraham
lived at home with his family and his friends. And if I'm not
mistaken, he was almost 75 years old then. He had lived in Ur
of the Chaldees. He'd lived there all his life.
Back then, tribes and families lived together and stayed that
way. And they stayed that way until they died. The father lived,
and his sons and The father died, and the son took over the tribe
and the family, and another son, the firstborn. Abraham had lived
there all these years, happy with his family, and God came
to him and said, Abraham, get thee out, out of thy country,
out of thy family, and from thy kindred. and go to a land that
I'll show thee." You talk about a difficult time. This was most
difficult. Most difficult. And Abraham went,
the scripture says, not knowing where the purpose and providence
of God would lead him, but he went nevertheless. In fact, he
really never had a home after that. Abraham dwelt in tents. Abraham wandered in the wilderness.
Abraham went from place to place. had a dwelling place after that.
He never really owned any land. God gave him a land, but he never
lived in it. He was looking for that city that God would provide.
And then his nephew Lot went with him. And God prospered him,
God blessed him. God blessed Abraham and blessed
Lot. But Lot, Abraham was the leader. Abraham was the captain
over the whole traveling caravan. But Lot had some herds and herdsmen,
and Abraham had herds and herdsmen, and they had sheep and cattle,
and there were so many of them, and the grazing land was limited,
that they had a conflict, the herdsmen did. Not Lot and Abraham,
the herdsmen had a conflict. So something had to be done,
and Lot came to Abraham to talk it over. Normally, Abraham being
the uncle, the oldest, the leader, the man with whom God spake and
through whom God led, would take the choice parcel. Lot would
agree and he would say, Uncle Abraham, I'm going to leave you
now and go over here with my flocks and herdsmen and servants
and find a way. But they talked, and this was
a trial, a trial of his faithfulness and a trial of his righteousness
And he said to Lot, he said, pick what you want. Just take
what you want and I'll take what's left. You have first choice.
And so Lot naturally, being a little greedy, took the well-watered
plains of Sodom and that area. And he went down there and Abraham
took to the hill. He took what was left. That was
a trial. That was a test through which God put this fateful man.
And then, of course, Lot got in trouble. He wasn't down there
very long until he got in trouble, and he was, along with the people
of those cities, were captured and taken away by some very cruel
and warlike kings. And Abraham received word that
they had been captured and they had been taken off, kidnapped,
and they were being held off somewhere. And Abraham got a
band of people together and formed an army And as God gave him the
wisdom and the leadership and the power, he went down and defeated
the wicked kings and set Lot and the kings of Sodom and these
men free. And they were wealthy men, they
were powerful, influential men. And when they came back, they
said to Abraham, they said, you saved our lives, you saved our
children, you saved our wives, you saved everything. We would
be dead if it wasn't for you. So we want you to just let us
go. back to where we live and you
take all the spoils. Here was gold and silver and
precious stones and rubies and diamonds and jewels and you name
it, it was a tremendous spoil, tremendous spoil. Abraham evidently
from all of these kings would have been the most wealthy man
known in that area. And there was another trial.
You see, there are many ways that God tries his people. I think we get bogged down with
the idea that the only way God tries a person is for somebody
to get sick or somebody to die, or maybe a fellow to lose his
job. It's always something of this nature. You know, we've
got, well, I'll just bear my cross. Well, now, wait a minute.
You watch how God tries this man, this man who's the father
of the believers. He's the father of the faithful.
He's the pattern. There was, first of all, the
call to come out of his father's house and go to a land God would
show him. And then there was this trial that nobody was sick
and nobody was dead. There was a trial between this
man and his nephew. And he could have rightfully,
gainfully taken what belonged to him. He was Abraham. He was
the uncle. This kid was his nephew. He didn't
owe him anything. He didn't even owe him to let
him go with him. He had no responsibility where this man was concerned,
actually. And that was a trial. And God
gave Abraham a blessing because he passed that test. God tried
him. And he proved unselfish. And he proved to be generous.
You see, God's not going to bless a man with plenty if he can't
be faithful with a few things. He's not going to bless him.
If God can't sweep the floor, then he can't control those that
do. If he can't be a follower, he can't be a leader. If he cannot
be trusted with small treasures, why should God give him vast
treasures with which to be covetous and greedy and selfish? And so
Abraham gave Lot, he said, take what you want. And Abraham was
the one that was blessed as a result of this generosity, this generous
spirit. He said, take what you want.
Lot took the plains, as most men would have. It sure looked
better in those hills up there. If they offered you the plains
of the Shenandoah Valley or the mountains of West Virginia, which
would you take, you know? You'd take the well-watered plains.
And Abraham went to the mountains. And who got a blessing? Abraham
did. Who lost? Everything he had lost. And then
this other thing here, these kings were going to make him
wealthy. I said this one time and somebody got upset. I said
all prosperity is not of God. It is indirectly. It is sometimes
permissively. But Satan can bless you. He can
bless you. And he'll do it to rob you. He
certainly can. And here they were offering Abraham
everything. Most of them would have said,
Boy, God sure blessed me. He gave me everything. God was
in Abraham turning it down. And Abraham said to him, I don't
want what you have, lest you say you made Abraham rich. God
will meet my needs. My Lord will meet my need, and
I'm not going to allow the evil men of this world to support
me. I see churches, and this bothers
me. I'll go to the door, and there
stand some little kids selling candy for churches. A lot of
people say, well, bless their hearts, and they start digging.
I love children, and I'll buy Girl Scout cookies. And I'll
buy a little league football and baseball candy, and I'll
buy anything connected with school, but I will not buy candy from
a church. I will not do it. That's not
the way God supports his churches. I will not do it. I will not
enter a raffle, I will not buy candy, I will not have my car
washed by a church car wash, I will not do it. I hope you
don't do it. No sir. That's not, Abraham said,
you're not going to support Abraham. If this is God's church, God
will support it. And not the people of this world.
Not those that hate God. And we will not have a raffle,
we will not do it. You say, it's a good cause. Listen,
my friend, Abraham said, I don't want your riches. God will meet
my needs. And how does God support his
church? Buy your Bible and you'll find
out. It's always, this is the only free will I believe in,
free will offering. Free will, that's the only way
God's ever supported his church. No, sir, we don't want what the
world has or what it offers. And this is another trial. And
then, wait a minute, here's another trial. I want you to look at
Genesis 18. We got into this in the preacher's
class yesterday, and they all got a blessing out of it. Here
was another trial, and Sodom was so wicked. The homosexuality
of Sodom was nauseous and evil in the sight of God. Evil in the sight of God, it's
reprobacy. That's what Romans 1 says, this
is men with men working that which is unseemly, and women
with women is reprobation. It's the lowest form, even the
beasts don't go that route. And this city was so vile and
wicked, God came to Abraham and sent angels and said that we're
going to destroy, God's going to burn Sodom and Gomorrah with
fire and brimstone, he's going to consume it. And the angels
left. Now, look at verse 22. And the
men turned their faces from them and went toward Sodom, and Abraham
stood yet before the Lord. I love this passage. I love it. You see, Lot was down there,
and Abraham was worried about Lot, and Lot's wife and Lot's
That's Abraham's nephew and his wife, and that's his nephew's
children. And he is concerned, and he begins
to intercede. Here's a trial. I know Abraham
agreed with God's righteousness and judgment, but here's Abraham
the intercessor. It's like one man said one time
about his children, old children. He said, my children won't pray,
so I'm going to pray for them. They won't pray, so I'll pray
for them. And these folks in Sodom weren't praying, so Abraham
prayed for them. And Abraham drew near and said,
Lord, will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?
Suppose there be fifty righteous within the city, will you also
destroy and not spare the place for fifty righteous therein?
That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous
with the wicked. and that the righteous should
be as the wicked, that be far from thee, shall not the judge
of all the earth do right?' And the Lord said, If I find in Sodom
fifty righteous within the city, I'll spare all the place for
their sake. And Abraham answered again and said, Behold, I have
taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes."
You know, we can learn something about praying if we read the
prayers of these men. I wonder how much of our prayer
is really prayer. We rush into God's presence,
we're so arrogant, we're so haughty, we're so familiar with the Deity.
Here's Abraham. Here's the choice man on the
face of this earth. Here's God's, if you talk about
one single choice man, it's this man Abraham, from whom God brought
the whole nation of Israel and the seed, which is Isaac, to
the seed, which is Christ. And here this man is speaking,
Behold, I've taken upon me to speak to the Lord, I'm but dust
and ashes. But he says, Lord, verse 28,
Perhaps peradventure there shall lack five of the fifty. Will
you destroy all the city for lack of five? And the Lord said,
If I find forty-five, I'll not destroy it. And he spake unto
him yet again and said, Peradventure there be forty. And he said,
I'll not do it for forty's sake. And he said again, Oh, let not
the Lord be angry. Don't you love that? Hesitancy,
fearful, so aware of God's holiness and his own sinfulness. Let not
the Lord be angry, and I'll speak. Peradventure there shall be thirty
be found there. And he said, I'll not do it if
I find thirty. And he said, Behold, I have taken
upon me to speak unto the Lord. Peradventure there shall be twenty
there. And God said, I'll not destroy
it for twenty's sake. And he said, Oh, let not the
Lord be angry. And I'll speak one more time,
one more time. Lord, for adventure ten shall
be found there. And the Lord said, I'll not destroy
it for ten's sake. Let me tell you something. That's a trial right there. That
man had a burden-broken heart. There's communication. with God.
There's communion, there's fellowship with God, there's intercession.
Here's a man whose whole being is just vibrating with an awareness
of God's holiness and righteousness. Here's a man standing between
God and a wicked city, pleading for the life of those whom he
loves. Now you talk about, you talk about, there's no soldier
ever stood alone in a gap that had more pressure and burden
on him than that man did right there. by just taking upon himself
to call upon God, taking upon himself to conflict with the
announcement God had made. The Lord could have, he was really
taking his life in his hand, he was taking his life in his
hand to question God Almighty's righteous judgment. But he said,
Lord, I know who I am, I know what I am, and I just want to
beg for some folks, I want to plead. And bless your heart,
the Lord heard him." My, how we can learn that. Then the Lord
promised Abraham a son. Here he is getting on up to 90
years old, and God said, you are going to have a son, Sarah
is going to have a son. And in Isaac's youth, our seed
be called a son. This son will be the son of Abraham
and Sarah. And the son didn't come. Abraham never had a child. He
was 90 years old, and his wife Sarah's womb was barren. Here's
another thing that seems so inconsistent to Abraham. God called him out
of Ur of the Calvary. He was 75 years old, and his
wife was 70 or 75, and they had no children, just Abraham and
Sarah. And this was, for a woman to
be barren in those days, seemed to be a curse. The scripture
indicates that the judgment was upon the barren womb. Then Abraham,
God said, will make of you a great nation, and all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed through you. How? I had no children. He went on and wandered around
for 15 or 20 years and still had no children. God came to
him and said, You're going to have a son! My, how thrilling
it was! But the son didn't come. And
he waited and waited and the sun didn't come. Finally his
wife came to him and said, you're not going to, here we're nearly
100 years old. Perhaps, perhaps God meant for
you to do something about it, for you to negotiate or some
way to, that he'd bless it if you had a son. Why don't you
take my handmaid Hagar and have a child with her? Back in those
days men had more than one wife many times. So he went into Hagar,
and she bore a son. And Abraham was so happy, they
called him Ishmael. And the minute that Hagar bore
that child, there was trouble in that home. Trouble between
Sarah and Hagar. Abraham was so happy, and yet
his wife hated Sarah and Hagar, and she didn't like that child,
and Hagar hated Sarah, and his whole household was a shamble. And it went on that way for 14
years. And finally God sent that son that he told him that Isaac
was born. And when they were weaning Isaac,
they were having a big shindig. however old you are and you weaned
children, having a big chin dig, and this boy Ishmael, Abraham
loved that boy. That was the only child he had
ever had. He was a hundred years old, and
that boy, even though he wasn't the promised son, even though
he was the son of a handmaid, even though he wasn't Sarah's
true-born son, Abraham loved that boy as his son. And he was
a fine boy. He was a hunter. He was a real
daddy's boy. And when they weaned Isaac, Sarah
saw Ishmael over there laughing. And she came to Abraham and said,
Get rid of that boy. Get rid of him. Get him out of
here. I want him and his mother out of here by dark. Something
like that. He's not going to be there with
Isaac. And Abraham went to God about, turn to Genesis 21, back
of page. Genesis 21, 11. In verse 10, Sarah said to Abraham,
Cast out this bondwoman and her son. Genesis 21, verse 10, This
son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with
Isaac. And the thing was very grievous
in Abraham's sight because of his son. He loved that boy. My, how he loved that boy. Verse
12, God said, Let it not be grievous in thy sight because of the lad,
and because of Hagar, in all that Saber hath said unto thee,
listen to her." Now, this will teach you something. Even the
wrath of man will praise the Lord. Even the wrath of man will
do God's will. Saber was wrong in her attitude,
dead wrong. She was wrong in her spirit,
wrong in her attitude, and wrong in her motive. But she is speaking
for God. Don't forget that. Even the wrath
of man will praise the Lord. God says she's not speaking from
the right motive. She wasn't seeking the glory
of God. When she said that boy's not going to be the heir with
Isaac, she wasn't saying it for God's glory, she was saying it
for selfish purposes. She wanted Isaac to have everything!
But nevertheless, God said, she's telling the truth. So I tell
you, Abraham stood out there one day and gave Hagar a bottle
of water and kissed Ishmael and told him goodbye. That was tough. That was tough. Here he is over
100 years old, and he says, after these things, it came to pass
that God did try Abraham, after these things. Hadn't he been
sufficiently tried? You'd think so, wouldn't you?
You'd sure think so. But God saved the toughest one
to last. I was preaching down in Cherokee
last week. Eddie Stevens and Elf came down.
And I gave an illustration, and he said he'd never heard it before.
It was given here during the conference. It must have been
in a morning service. But I think it's one of the most
vivid illustrations of our relationship with God as believers. It's called
The Pearl. Ed Wallen from here in town,
Alabama, told the story. And since Ed didn't hear it,
and some of the rest of you didn't hear it, I want to tell it to
you tonight. There was a man who collected pearls. He was a real connoisseur of
pearls. He knew a good pearl when he
saw one. He collected them. And he always
looked the world over for the best pearl. And he was walking
by the window of a shop one day, an exclusive shop, and he glanced
in and there in the window on a black velvet background was
the most beautiful monstrous, perfect pearl he'd ever seen
in his life. And he just stopped and stood
there and gazed at it. And then he went inside and he
found the owner and he said, he said, I must have that pearl. I must have that pearl. I must. And the fellow said, well, it's
for sale. You can have it. And he went to the window and
he lifted that pearl out and came out and put it on the counter
there, you know, and the man just stood there and gazed at
it. how he wanted that pearl. He said, what's it cost? What's
the price of the pearl? I must have it. And the owner
said, the price of the pearl is everything you've got. That's
what it'll cost you, everything you've got. Well, the fellow
got out his wallet, you know, and opened it up, and he said,
well, he said, I've got $500. That's what I've got. And the fella took out his pen
and piece of paper and he wrote down, he said, five hundred dollars. And the man said, I can't give
you all of that. He said, I've got to buy gas
for my car to go home. Oh, he said, you've got a car.
I said, all you've got. That's five hundred dollars.
Right under that he wrote one car. But the man said, I need my car.
I have to drive to work. I've got a job. Oh, oh, he said,
you've got a job. That's one job. And he wrote
that in there. But he said, if I don't keep
my job, he said, I can't feed my family. Oh, if you have a
family, that'd be one family. But he said, I can't give up
my family. He said, my wife and three children,
we just love each other. We have the nicest home and the
most beautiful acreage. Oh, you've got a home, that'd
be one home plus acreage. Is that all you've got?" Well,
the man said, that is, that's all I've got. But he said, that's
where the cost is. And the fellow backed off. You
know, our Lord said, count the cost. Isn't that what he said?
Isn't that what he said? I know the evangelists don't
say that. They say, skedaddle down the aisle and shake my hand
and meet you in the promised land. But that is not what our
Lord said. Our Lord said, count the cost.
Sit down and count the cost. He didn't say, raise your hand
or stand up or walk out. He said, sit down and count the
cost. If any man come to me, let him
forsake mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife, his own
life, or he cannot be my disciple." I believe that's what he said.
I believe that's accurate. I believe that's accurate. So
this man stood there a minute, and he looked at that money,
car, job, family, house, lot. He looked at that pearl, counted
the cost, said, I'll take it. I'll take it." And the fellow
filled a place for him to sign, and he signed, and he dumped
all of the deeds out there. There it is. Give me my pearl. He took the pearl, and he started
to leave, and the proprietor said, just a moment. And he handed
all of it back to him. He said, here's your 500, and
here's your car, your deed to your car, and your title, your
house. Now, he said, that's all mine. That's mine, but I'm going
to let you use it. Now, if I need some money, you
don't mind returning some of my money, do you? If I call on
you to support something that's worthwhile, that I want, you
don't mind letting me have some of my money? And if I have a
friend that I want you to take to the hospital some night in
the middle of the night, you won't mind him using my car?
Would you mind him using my car? And if I have some friends, some
of my family, coming through to spend the night, could he
stay in my house? If I'm pleased to take one of
my children, you won't mind if I take one of my children, will
you? You see, I'm letting you use this. Abraham saw this, my friend.
We have a greedy arrangement with God. God gives everything
and we take it. You see, God gives us salvation,
forgiveness and pardon and blessings and health and wealth and prosperity
and children and home. What have you given me lately,
God? I haven't got a thing this week. It's all his. When a man purchases
the pearl, he sells all he has. That's what Scripture says. And
Christ is that pearl. But I'll tell you this, he's
worth it. But the beautiful thing about it is that God lets us
use all these things, but they're his. And this is the way Abraham,
I believe this is the thing that even though he lived in the Old
Testament days, even though he lived prior to the coming of
Christ, the sufferings of Christ, I believe he understood more
about a relationship with God by faith than any of us or all
of us put together. I believe he did. He was a man
of faith, he believed God. But God came to him after these
things, after these things, God did try him, he tried his fears.
You fear God? I fear God. A description of
an unbeliever is that there is no fear of God before his eyes.
A description of a believer is one that fears the Lord. Jacob
feared the Lord, Abraham feared the Lord, David feared the Lord,
all the way through He tested Abraham's fear. If you will,
look down here at verse 12, and I'll show you. When he rescued
Isaac from the altar, he said, "'Lay not your hand upon the
lad, neither do anything for him, for I know now that you
fear God.'" Abraham, God tested his fear,
God tested his love. Look at verse 12. I know that
you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your Son, your only
Son, from me. You love me more than you love
Isaac." That's what God said. He tested his faith. Look back at verse 1. He said,
Abraham, here I am, and he said, take now every one of these words
I know, cut the heart of this old man. Don't you know every
one of these words were just like a knife, just like a knife,
piercing the heart of this old man. Take now thy son, let's
be specific, God says, thine only son Isaac, let's clarify
it a little more, whom you love, and get thee into a land of morale
and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains,
I'll tell thee of. Now, Abraham believed God. There
are two hints here. I know that this trial was not
lessened by his faith. This trial was not lessened by
his belief in God. It was a severe trial. It was
a hard trial. It was an indescribable conflict,
traumatic experience. But Abraham, God had said to
him, in Isaac shall your seed be called, and he believed He
believed that. God had said, Isaac shall be
thine heir, and Abraham believed that, so he believed, somehow,
if he spilled the blood of that boy, that God would from the
rocks raise him up again. He believed that. Turn to Hebrews
11, let me show you that. Abraham went to this Mount Moriah
with confidence that if he did kill Isaac, He wasn't going to
have to explain to Saber that he killed his only son, he wasn't
going to have to explain to the heathen around him that he had
offered his own son as a sacrifice, like the evil pagans of his day,
but he knew God was going to raise him up. Look at Hebrews
11, I believe it's verse 17. By faith, Abraham, verse 17,
Hebrews 11, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. And he that
had received the promises offered up his only begotten Son," you
see, he didn't offer him up, he did in his heart. And Isaac
was as good as sacrificed in Abraham's heart. He did the deed. You see, this is what Christ
is saying about murder. If you murder someone, you're
just fulfilling what you've already done in your heart. And God looks
on the heart. This is this thing of seeing.
Obedience is the same way. Obedience first is formed in
the heart, and then it's carried out through an act of the Or
Abraham had already offered up Isaac. He already had. Of whom it was said, verse 18,
that in Isaac shalt thy seed be called, accounting that God
was able to raise him up even from the dead. He believed that. Here are two hints. Look back
at Genesis 22. When he came to the foot of the
mountain, it was a 3-day journey. He had plenty of time to think
about it. The Lord doesn't work like modern evangelism. where
you win a fellow to the Lord in 15 minutes, don't let him
off the hook until you land him. God gave Abraham 3 days, think
this over, 3 days and 3 nights. He left and he journeyed 3 days
to that mountain, perhaps 3 nights, 2, anyway 3 days. So when he got to the foot of
that hill and he told the young men with the animals to stay
here and he took the wood and put it on Isaac's back And he
took the fire, I don't know how they carried fire, some kind
of fire he carried in his hand, and he took a knife in his hand
and he said, come on, Isaac, and we're going yonder to worship.
And he said to those men, look at verse 5, Abraham said to the
young man, you abide here with the ash, I and the lad will go
yonder and worship and come again to you. We're coming back. He believed God had raised, he
said, we're coming back. This lad and I going up this
hill to worship, we're coming back. And here's another verse,
verse 8, when Isaac asked him where the lamb was, he said,
God will provide him supper lamb. And it won't be you. It won't
be you. God will provide a lamb. Let's see a couple of things
here. I've gone too long, but here's something you need to
see. Abraham is a picture of the Father. He's a picture of
the Father. You go back and remember what
the reading was. God said to Abraham, take your
son, for God so loved, thine only son, God so loved the world
that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth
on him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God gave
his son, his only son, because he loved us, because he purposed
to save us. And then he took this wood, and
for the to burn the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac's back.
God took our nickel and laid them on Christ. He took our sins
and laid them on Christ. Christ bore our sins in his body,
just like Isaac bore that wood. Then Abraham took the fire and
a sharp knife in his hand to slay his only son. You know,
wicked men crucified Christ, but it was God who smote him. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him. He was smitten of God and afflicted. And then it says here
twice in this scripture, and I noticed it while Jay was reading
it again, it says in verse 6, the last line, and they went
both of them together. They went both of them together.
Look at verse 8 again, the last line, and they went both of them
together. That Calvary The Father was there in the Son. God was
in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. Here is a picture
of Abraham as the Father, Christ, Jesus is represented by Isaac.
The Father took our guilt and laid it on his Son. And the father
himself led Christ up Calvary's hill, and there it pleased God
to bruise him. He was smitten of God and afflicted. God took the knife of justice
and righteousness in his own hand and plunged it into the
bowels and heart of his son. But here's something I've never
heard anybody preach about. I've never preached on it myself.
And Isaac is a picture of Christ in his relationship to the Father,
in his willingness to submit. You know, Isaac was a pretty
good-sized boy then, J. Some writers say he was 21 or
22 or 23 years old. Now, that old man of 120 years
old didn't take that boy and bind him on that altar without
submission. I'd sure hate to try to tie Paul
Kuhn to an altar, and I'm just 54. Maybe I was 120. And he tied that boy willingly,
submitted, willingly. And he bore the cross. But I
see Isaac as a picture of the sinner. I see Isaac as me, me. Now, you see, you can't make
a tithe. Most tithes just won't walk on
four legs. You can't even take a parable. Be careful, be careful. And just
let it say what it's saying. Let it flow as God gives it. And let it say what it says.
Now look at verse 7. So here you get the picture.
Abraham and Isaac are going up the mountain. And Isaac's bearing
the wood. And he looks over and his dad
has the fire. And his dad has a knife in his
hand. Sharp knife. And they're going up the mountain.
And I imagine he stopped. And he said, Father, look at
verse 7. Father, and he said, here I am. He said, Behold, here
is the fire and the wood. Where is the Lamb? Isaac knew more than 99 percent
of the preachers of this day. Isaac knew he was a sinner and
knew his father was a sinner. And he knew they were going to
try to worship God, they were going to try to come into the
presence of God, they were going to commune with God. And he knew
that was impossible without the shedding of blood. He knew that. that there was no way that a
son of Adam could approach a living God except through a sacrifice.
He knew that, and that's the reason he asked that question.
I want to know where the Lamb is. I want to know what water
won't do, law won't do, fire won't do. I hear people say,
let the fire fall. Well, that's good, but let's
have some blood first to put away the sin. The law won't do,
deeds won't do, justice must be satisfied. I must have Christ. So Abraham says to him, my son,
my son, God, and let's just read this like it says it, God will
provide himself a lamb. You're not going to provide the
lamb, and I'm not going to provide it, God is. That's the reason
Isaac cannot be a full picture of Christ, Jay, he can't do it,
because he cannot supply his own sacrifice. He cannot supply
it. Abraham can't supply it and Isaac
can't supply it. God will do it. He said God will
do it. God will provide, here's another
picture, for himself a land. God has to have a land. But after
shedding of blood, there is no remission. God's righteousness
has got to have a Lamb. God's justice has got to have
a Lamb. God's glory has got to have a Lamb, a Lamb suitable
for himself, sufficient for himself, a sacrifice for himself. God
will provide for himself a Lamb. What's this? And God will provide
himself for a Lamb. He is the Lamb. You see, in our
addiction, Christ is all things. except the sin, I furnish that.
That's the only thing we furnish. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
priest, our Lord Jesus Christ is the sacrifice, the lamb, our
Lord Jesus Christ is the incense, our Lord Jesus Christ is the
mercy seat, our Lord Jesus Christ is the recipient of the offering,
he and the Father So he says, God will provide for himself
a lamb, and God will provide himself for a lamb. He's going
to be the lamb. By one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. So verse 9, they came to the
place which God had told him of. Abraham built an altar, laid
the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on
the altar. That's a picture of the sinner.
I'm bound by the law. I'm bound by my iniquity, I'm
bound by my sin, I'm bound and laid helpless on the altar of
justice and righteousness to be executed." And Abraham took
the knife. Abraham is a picture of the Father.
And the Father must, he must, he must punish sin, he must,
I'm bound, I'm helpless, I'm hopeless, I'm where I'm supposed
to be, I'm supposed to be sacrificed, justice demands it, righteousness
demands it, the law demands it, truth demands it, everything
about God demands that the sinner pay for his sin, and God raises
the knife and mercy says, hold it! I've found a ransom. Verse 10, verse 11, verse 13, Abraham lifted up his
eyes and looked, and here's Christ, a ram caught in a thicket by
his horns. And Abraham went over and got
that ram, untied his son who was tied up, and put him aside
and put that ram. It says, look at the last line,
verse 13, in the stead of his Son. And Christ Jesus came down
here, mercy, state the hand of justice, mercy, herald back the
wrath of God, mercy, the mercy of God. The love of God, the
grace of God, held back the justice of God, and brought forth Christ
as an offering for my sin, and he literally actually took my
place, for he was wounded for my transgressions, bruised for
my iniquity, the chastisement of my sins, my peace was laid
on him by his stripes, I go free. Isaac goes free, and the ram
dies, the innocent dies to the guilty. I heard a story years ago I wish
to repeat. I think it illustrates what I've
been trying to preach tonight. There was a fellow in the days
of Christ in Jerusalem by the name of Barabbas. Barnard used
to say, Barabbas is Son of Sorrow. But anyway, Barabbas was a criminal,
he was a thief. He was a known thief, he was
a convicted thief. He was a thief that had been
put on trial, found guilty and sentenced to die on a cross,
so he must have been a bad ape, very bad. He was sentenced to
die, he was in prison, he was in bondage, he was in a dungeon
somewhere in the city of Jerusalem, waiting the day of his execution. There were two of them, or three
of them. And they were to die on a cross
on a certain time. And he was in his dungeon. But
something was happening of which he knew nothing about. He knew
nothing about what was taking place out there. He was chained,
tied by fetters and chained in a cell down there in the bottom
of a dungeon. And there was a lot going on
in Jerusalem at that time. Barabbas was sitting in his cell
that day, and he heard all this crowd out there somewhere screaming
and yelling and carrying on, and he heard them say, all of
them did, Give us Barabbas! What he didn't know was going
on was this. There was a man called Jesus Christ who was standing
before Pilate. And Pilate spoke to the people,
and he said, It's customary that I release unto you at this time
a certain prisoner of your choice of prisoners. Whom shall I release
unto you, Barabbas or Jesus Christ? And they took up the chant, Give
us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! Give us Barabbas! And he heard
that. He didn't hear Pilate, but he
heard those loud voices screaming, thousands of people screaming
his name. And he trembled and shook as
he awaited the execution. After a while he heard them say
again, Let him be crucified! But what had transpired that
he didn't know anything about was Pilate had said, What shall
I do with Jesus? And they took up the chant, Let
him be crucified, let him give us Barabbas, and let him be crucified! and quaked with fear, and after
a while he heard the key in the lock up there at the top of the
step. Then he heard those uniformed
Roman soldiers coming down with their shields and their metal
on their feet and uniforms tromping down, and he just shook like
a leaf. He knew he was going to be hung on a cross to die
in the sun. and suffer so greatly was that
terrible death of the cross. And he came down and one of them
unlocked the chains binding his wrist, and another one this one
his feet, and he stood up and one of them roughly shoved him
toward the door and said, Get out of here, you're free. And
you know most fellows would have run, and I think Barabbas stopped,
and he said, What did you say? He said, I said, Get out of here,
you're free. He said, I don't understand.
I heard that crowd out there give us Barabbas, let him be
crucified. I know I'm a thief. I know I'm
supposed to die. I've been found guilty. What
do you mean I'm free to go? And the man said, another fellow's
taking your place, dying on your cross. His name's Jesus Christ,
and because he's taking your place and dying on your cross,
you're free. And I just imagine, I don't know,
I wonder why Hollywood hadn't made a movie out of it. They
made one out of everything else in the Bible and twisted it around. But I imagine Barabbas, he'd
had to. I know what my reaction, he'd
had to. I know he went as far as, he
got out of sight of Jerusalem, I mean out of Jerusalem, but
I don't think he got out of sight. I think he went over there on
another hill somewhere. And he watched that that took
place. He couldn't, he'd have to. Curiosity would force him. and some feeling, I don't know
whether God saved him or not, but I do know this, he must have
stood there and watched them drive the nails into his substitute,
and then raise him up on a cross and ripping the flesh, drop that
cross into a hole, and sat there the whole six hours and watched
him perish. I'm afraid because he died. I'm
afraid because he died. And it seems to me there has
to be some kind of gratitude in his heart for somebody. But
that's my story. The Lord tried me, found me guilty,
rightfully so, sentenced me to die in hell. And Jesus Christ
came down here and God cut my fetters and my fetters fell off. My soul set free. He said, you're
free. But Lord, I'm guilty. But Jesus
Christ is dying in your place. And I do, I still sit on that
other hill and look down there where I was. And can it be that
I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he for
me who caused his pain through him to death pursued? That's
what it's all about. Christ took our place. Actually
in the stead, as Isaac backed off and watched Abraham sway
that ram, and that ram's blood fell to the ground, and that
fire licked up around it and burned it, and he stood there
and he said, I'm here because he's there. And that's what it's
all about. That's my gospel. It ain't do
the best you can. It's I'm here because he's there.
He's there. He's there on that cross, and
he's there in that tomb, and now he's at God's right hand,
and I'm here because he's there. And I'm going to be there because
he's there. That's the whole thing. Our Father, bless the
Word. We thank thee for this illustration
of your mercy. We thank thee for this picture
of your grace. We thank thee for thy dear son who loved us
and gave himself for us. We are not ashamed to own his
name. We are not ashamed. And Lord, help us, each one,
to sit down and count the value and cost of this precious pearl,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, make us willing, whatever
the cost, whatever the trial, whatever the test, whatever the
burden. You said your burden is easy and your yoke is light,
and we found it to be so. We sorrow not as those who have
no hope. Use this for thy glory and the
good of thy people here. Make us to be ever thankful for
what you've done for us in Christ. In his name we pray. Amen.