Now, the character of saving
faith. I want to read a passage from
Luke 17. We'll go back to Genesis 22 a
little later. But let me read a passage from
Luke 17, 5. Luke 17, 5. And the apostle said unto the
Lord, Increase our faith. our faith. I'm concerned about
my faith. I'm concerned about your faith. I don't want to miss faith in
Christ. I don't want to go through life
having been in the ministry, having been part of an assembly
of believers, having been religious, having been a Bible student and
miss Christ. So I'm concerned about faith.
Our Lord said to the disciples, you go preach the gospel and
he that believe it and is baptized shall be saved. He that believeth
not shall be damned. And our Lord said, he that believeth
on the Son of God hath life and he that believeth not the Son
of God hath not life. And when the Philippian jailer
came to Paul and Silas asked, what must I do to be saved? There
was one direct statement made. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Four times the scripture says
this, the just shall live by faith. Now is it any wonder that
I'm concerned about my faith? The just shall live by faith.
If a man believes savingly on Christ, He's redeemed. He's pardoned. His sins are forgiven. He's a child of God. If he believes
not on Christ, whatever else he is, has, knows, or does, he's
lost. I'm concerned about my faith.
I'm concerned about your faith. Peter, the Apostle Peter, may
wilt under trial, and he did. He may have trouble with Gentile
salvation, and he did. He may struggle with circumcision
and the ceremonial law, and he did, even to being rebuked by
Paul. But our Lord was interested in
his faith. He said, Peter, I prayed for
you that your faith fail not. I'm not really concerned about
your wilting under pressure and about your conflict with, I've
never eaten anything unclean, and your siding with the Jews
that came down from Jerusalem. I'm concerned, I'm interested,
Christ said, in your faith. I've prayed for you that you
fail. You fail not. The centurion. may be overly
concerned about his child, and running to the apostles, and
then running to the Lord, and here and there. He may even make
foolish statements like, Lord, I took him to your apostles,
and they couldn't do anything, if you can do anything. Wasn't
that what he said? If you can do anything. And our
Lord focused his attention on the main issue. He said, if you
can believe. There's where it is. If you can
believe. Not a question of what I can
do. It's a question of faith. He said, all things are possible
to them that believe. And that's when the man cried,
oh God I believe, help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. No problem
with God's power. Can you believe? Nothing is impossible
to them that believe. When you look at the book of
Hebrews, chapter 11, and it lists the Old Testament hall of fame,
You will find that there's one thing that every one of these
people had in common. By faith, Abel offered a more
excellent sacrifice. By faith, Enoch walked with God. By faith, Noah being warned of
God. By faith, Abraham. By faith, Moses. By faith, by
faith, Arahab. By faith, all the way through.
It's a chapter of faith. And that's where it is. Without
faith, it's impossible to please God. And in our text, the disciples,
that was their concern. Oh, Lord, increase our faith. And you know, a very interesting
thing to note is what prompted this request. Look at it. If you will, verse 3 and 4 of
chapter 17. When they said, Lord, increase
our faith, you know what Christ had said that caused them to
be concerned about their faith? He said in verse 3, that's a
paragraph mark there, so we're beginning this subject. Verse
3, he said, take heed to yourselves. If your brother sinned against
you, rebuke him. And if he repent, forgive him. And if he sinned against you
seven times in one day, and seven times in a day, he turned again
to thee, saying, I repent, thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles
said unto the Lord, you better do something for us. You better
do something for us. You better do something about
our faith. Increase our faith. It was the reality of daily faith.
It wasn't just believing there's a God, the devil believes there's
a God. It wasn't just believing that Jesus Christ came to the
earth and died on a cross even. It was the strength of living
faith, it was the reality of daily faith, it was the works
of obedient faith that troubled them. My faith, heart faith. Dedicated faith, devoted faith,
living faith, obedient faith. Brethren, it's not faith to shut
the mouth of lions that concerns me, it's faith to shut my mouth. That's my problem. It's not faith
to move mountains, it's faith to move the troublesome little
hills of Doubt and envy and jealousy and pride. There's where we're battling
and struggling and there's where our conflicts are. We don't have
any, not many of you here have got any mountains that need moving,
do you? But we got some old hills that need shifting around. That's
right. It's not faith to bring down
the walls of Jericho, it's faith to bring down the walls of prejudice
and bigotry and tradition and self-righteousness. That's where
we have our conflict. That's faith, he's talking about
right here. It's not faith to build an ark,
it's faith to enter one already built, Christ Jesus. So tonight in looking at the
character faith, I looked at this text and I thought, that's
the text I want, Lord, increase my faith. I don't want to miss
faith. True faith, saving faith, living
faith, heart faith, obedient faith, all of these attributes
of saving faith. I don't know what to mean by
keep the faith, baby, you know, I don't know what that means.
because everybody's got some kind of faith, but there is a
saving faith, there is a living faith, there is the faith of
Christ Jesus by which men live, by which men are saved. It's
a faith that changes lives and changes attitudes and motives. It's a faith that creates new
creatures in Christ Jesus. That's what I want. And the only
place I knew to turn was Genesis 22, so we'll go over there and
see what God shows us there. Genesis 22, about faith. This is the character
of saving faith. And I'm going to call your attention
to some things that impress me from this chapter, and the first
is the first verse. Three words. After these things,
That gives me the first mark of saving faith. You see it there?
And it came to pass after these things that God did test Abraham
and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, behold, here am I. Now
here's the first mark of saving faith, the first evidence of
saving faith, the first character of saving faith. Saving faith
will be tried. It will be tried. I can be as
certain as I'm standing here that if I have saving faith,
it will be tried, it will be tested, and it will be proved.
I have many verses I could give you. James 1, 2 and 3, 1 Peter
1, 6 and 7, 1 Peter 4, 12 through 13. You've read these scriptures.
You know what they say. Brethren, do not be amazed when
fiery trials come upon you. They are to try your faith. And
all of these scriptures say that, that faith will be tried. But
here's the point I'm making. It came to pass after these things. That seems like just a side statement,
doesn't it? The average person just read
over it. It came to pass after these things.
And not even paying attention to what it means, but the Lord's
side words mean more than what men say on purpose. And what he's saying is this.
after all these things. Now listen to me. Think of the
trials through which Abraham had already come. It came to
pass that after these things, God had called him, he was safely
settled, a mature man up in years, when living in his own country,
it was an idolatrous country, he was living among heathen,
pagans, idol worshippers, But God came down to his country,
where he lived, with his people, and he said, Abraham, get thee
out. And he didn't tell him where he was going, just said, get
thee out to a land I'll show you. And Abraham got out. Now that was a tough trial, that
was a tough experience. He left everything he loved and
knew and was used to and adapted to, and he went, not knowing
where he was going, And the second trial is God didn't give him
a certain dwelling place at all. He promised the land to his seed. Abraham just kept on wandering
all his life. He was a wanderer, dwelling in
tents. He never owned anything, any permanent land or dwelling
place. And then God promised him a son.
He never had a son. He had a lovely, beautiful wife.
He loved her, Sarah. She never gave him any children.
Ninety years old, still didn't have any children. God came along
and said, you're going to have a son. About fourteen years passed,
and he still didn't have a son by Saba. That's a long time. Fourteen years. Still no son
came. That's a trial. And then he did
get a son, though, by another, by a mistress, by his wife's
handmaid, and he loved that boy. That's all the boy he had. And
when that boy was fourteen, fifteen years old, God said to him, cast
him out. Just cast him out. That's all.
Get rid of him. The bond woman and her son can't
live with the free woman and her son. Get him out of here.
Oh, that was so difficult. And then dividing the land with
lot and the temptation to riches by evil king. They were the kings
of Sodom were going to make this man Abraham wealthy. They were
going to give him gold, silver, precious stones, wealth unsurpassed. He didn't take it. This wandering
man, living in a tent, had at his feet the goal of this world,
and turned around and walked off. After these things, you'd think,
Lord, aren't you through yet? After these things, when he was
old and full of days, after these things, when he thought the warfare
was over, after these things, After nine severe tests and trials,
after these things, when he felt like he could sit back and enjoy
life and enjoy watching Isaac grow up and mature and develop
and bring grandchildren to sit on his knee, after these things,
he was called upon to endure the greatest trial he ever faced. So I'm saying this to you. It may be that my greatest trial
will be my last one. Maybe my last one will be my
greatest one. But faith is going to be tested. Young faith, middle-aged
faith, and old faith is going to be tested. You might as well
prepare for it. If you've got saving faith, it's
going to be tested. John must spend his last days
in exile alone. Peter must be crucified upside
down. Paul, after all that he went
through, the stonings, the shipwreck, the imprisonment, and all the
betrayals and all these things, must finally wind up being martyred
by religionists. I don't know, you don't know
what the next trial is going to be and when it will take place
and how God will But I know if it's true faith, it'll be tried. The second character of faith,
look at verse two. And he said, Abraham, now every
word of this verse deserves our particular attention. Abraham,
take now thy son. Thy son. Thine only son, Isaac. Whom thou lovest, oh boy, and
get thee unto the land of Moriah, and offer him, kill him, kill
him, burn off him, and burn his body, shed his blood, and burn
his body upon one of the mountains which I'll tell thee of. The
true believer loves, all believers love. A man doesn't love, he's
not a believer. He that loveth not knoweth not
God. God is love. But the believer's first love
is Christ. That's what God is pointing out here. This man of
faith, this father of the faithful, this pattern of faith, this man
Abraham, he loved that boy. God said he did. He said, take
your son, your only son, whom you love. But I'll tell you,
the believer loves. He loves his son. He loves his
wife. He loves his children. Husbands,
love your wives as Christ loved the church. Love your children.
But I'm telling you this, Not more than Christ. Not more than
Christ. When this whole thing was over,
verse 12, he said, Abraham, don't touch the lad. I know now that
you fear God. That you fear God. You love God. Seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son, from me. He that loveth father, mother,
brother, sister, husband, wife, more than me. But he said he
can't be my disciple. The true believer loves life,
he loves living, he loves hunting and fishing, and he loves these
things that God has created, but not more than Christ. One
day our Lord appeared to the disciples, and they were sitting
around a fire. Peter, you know, when Christ
was crucified and buried and rose again, these men all their
lives had been fishermen. Peter was a fisherman. He loved
fishing. He loved the sea. He loved the
nets. He loved the boats. He loved the sport of it. He loved everything about it. That was his livelihood. And
they were all sitting around the upper room one night, and
he said, I'm going to fishing. What he's saying there, I'm going
back to fishing. That's where I was, and he found me, and that's
where I was, spent most of my life, and that's where I'm going
now. And they said, well, just hang on, we'll go with you. And
they all went fishing. And while they was out there
fishing, the Lord appeared to them. They came in the shore,
brought their boats and their nets, and stacked everything
around, got it around, set around a fire, and he fixed them something
to eat. And Peter was sitting there, and the Lord, everything
got quiet. He said, Peter, you love me more
than these. Now he wasn't asking Peter, do
you love me more than John loves me? The Lord wouldn't set one
of his children against another like that. He doesn't say things
like that. He said, do you love me more
than these? You know what he's saying? Peter, do you love me
more than you love those boats? Do you love me more than you
love those nets? Do you love me more than you love that sea?
He knew he loved that sea and he loved those boats and he loved
those nets. He loved these men. He loved his family. And this
is what our Lord is saying. This is what He's saying, Chuck,
to you, and Darvin, to you, and Bruce, and to me, and Jim. You
love your family, but you're a minister of the gospel. And
you live as if you didn't have a family, or you ain't no minister
of the gospel. That's right. Christ is first. And the same
thing is true of every believer. He loves his family, and he loves
his children, and he loves life, and he loves recreation, these
things. But he loves Christ more. He
loves Christ more. He doesn't love Christ at all.
He loves Christ first of all, or not at all. That's the reason
Job could sit down and worship God. When everything was gone,
his family, all of his children were dead, and all of his possessions
were wiped out. They'd have strapped most of
us up and put us somewhere under the care of a psychiatrist if
that had happened to us, but not Joe, because he loved his
Lord more. And he knew his Lord was too
wise to make a mistake and too good to do wrong. And he rent
his clothes and put ashes on his head. And he worshipped God. He said, the Lord gave, and the
Lord hath been pleased to take it all away. Praise God, from
whom all blessings flow. That's what it said. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. That's faith. You say, that's
hard. No. No, that's not hard now. That's faith. And that's what
God's saying to Abraham here. This is a character of faith.
Faith is devoted to Christ first. There's no contest. There's no
argument. There's no debate. There's no
choosing up and taking sides on this. Christ is first, absolutely
first. And everything else takes whatever
place it can occupy, but Christ is first, above and beyond all
things. And if that's not true, we've
missed saving faith. Verse 3, the third mark of faith,
it's obedience. I like the way it says this.
He told him, verse 2, take your son and offer him for a burnt
offering. Verse 3 says, and Abraham rose up early in the morning. He rose up and went to the place
God told him, simply stated. There it is. But oh, the power
of it. Oh, the way it grips the heart. Oh, the depths of these
words. God said, Abraham, take your
son, your only son, the son whom you love, and sacrifice him as
a burnt offering. And Abraham rose up. and went
to the place. By my soul, the arguments he
could have presented. We're so human, we got so many
arguments. He could have thought of so many
sensible reasons for not obeying that command. He could have thought,
Bruce, of so many sensible arguments. Now hold on just a minute. Now hold on just a minute. You
said in Isaac shall my seed, thy seed be called. Now how can
my seed be called in Isaac if he's dead? Now that makes sense.
That's good sin. That's good sin. That's the way
we reason. That's just exact. Lord, now
hold on, Lord. Now how do I explain this to
Sarah? Now how do I explain this to
my wife? A man has to explain to his wife, you know. And how
do I explain? I take this boy, I come and say,
Isaac and I are going on a trip. Where are you going? I'm going
to go and kill him. Now you tell me how I'm going to explain that.
When y'all coming back, he's not coming back, or something
like that, you know. How do I explain that? And then
Lord, what about the people? Now what are the people going
to think? The folks that live in other countries, they know
I worship the Lord God, they know I worship the God of heaven,
they know that I'm a believer, and here I murder my son. They
don't murder their sons. Now that makes sense, Lord, doesn't
that make sense? So let's just forget this whole thing. That's
sensible. And Lord, this just doesn't seem
right. You know, I've heard people argue
against election. It just doesn't seem right. Predestination, election,
particular redemption, it can't be so because it doesn't seem
right. But I'll tell you, no arguments.
Abraham believed God. No arguments, no quarrel. You know, I like what the Lord's
mother said, Mary said to those folks you know that they didn't
have any wine at the supper and she just said now whatever he
says to you, do it. That's good advice, isn't it?
Whatever he says, just do it. You don't have to explain it
to your wife and explain it to your neighbors and explain it
to somebody else. Whatever he said, do it. Do it. That's what Abraham did. When
God told him to do something, he rose up first thing in the
morning and started for that mountain. That's all he needed
was the Word of God. That's all he needed. What do
you and I need? We want a little feeling thrown
in. We want a little encouragement. Let's go see. I had a preacher
one time. This is a fact. He came to my
house one night. Dr. Magruder was there, and I
think Brother Barnard was there, and he said to me, he said, God
showed me something last night. He said, I want to know what
y'all think about it. And Dr. McGruder said, what difference
does it make what we think about it if God showed it to you? You
know, that's good reasoning. If God showed it to you, what
difference does it make? Why do we need assurances of
feeling, experience, other people? All we need is the book. That's
all Abraham had. Faith is obedient. Fourthly,
faith is patient. Now watch this. Have you ever
noticed this? Then on the third day, You know, most of us, most of
us have so little patience, so little patience. We're in such
a hurry. We reveal our lack of faith or
little faith by our impatience. We're going to do it. We've got
our minds made up. We've got our nose pointed in
the right direction. We've got our wheels up. We're
going to do it right now. We can't wait on God. You know
how when God told Abraham to sacrifice that boy, He gave him
three days and three nights. Think about it. Three days and
three nights. That's how far it was to Mount
Moriah. All those days of travel, walking beside that boy. Isaac
didn't know anything. The men with him didn't know
anything, but Abraham knew. His heart was like lead in his
chest. His eyes had cried till he couldn't
cry anymore. His mind was so burdened as he
watched that boy play. Can I kill that boy? Can I take
a knife? Can I bind him to an altar wood
and take a knife and pierce his heart, even though I believe
God will raise him? I know Abraham believed God would. But now let
me ask you, if you thought God was going to raise your son tomorrow,
John, could you kill him? That man, three days of remembering
the joys and had three days of seeing that boy's eyes look up
in his father's face as he held a knife over him. Three nights
of weeping. Plenty of time to change his
mind. God gives us space to repent,
but he also gives us space to turn around and go back. He said
to his disciples, will you go away? This is what I don't like
about this hurry-up evangelism. Hurry up and get the decision.
Hurry up and get the commitment. Hurry up and get the baptism.
Hurry up and get the folks to join the church. Just hold on.
Just let them sit for a moment. It may not be faith. And I'll
tell you one good old thing that will reveal whether it's faith
or not, and that's time. That's time. The Lord slowly
prepares His vessels And through time and trial he proves his
vessels. The chaff will always fail and
get blown away, but the wheat will live. If Moses was living today, Moses
would have entered the ministry when he was 45 years old. His life was two-thirds over
when he went in the ministry. That's right. He spent 40 years
in Egypt. He spent 40 years in the desert.
He spent 40 years in the ministry. That's two-thirds of his life
was gone when he entered the ministry. But God prepared him
for it, and he moved the world. God prepared. But we go into
the field with our sickles, and we cut down tares and wheat and
trees and branches and vines and everything else, you know.
We just go in there slaughtering the sheep, and we try to shear
them, cut their legs off, cut the hearts out of them. God Almighty
prepared Moses. He tried Moses. He tested Moses. He proved Moses. And when He
brought him out, he had something to say. He had something to say. David didn't go from Jesse's
house to the throne. David went to the cave. And then
David went to the desert. And then David went out yonder
to the seashore. And then David was hunted like
an animal. And David lived in a cave. And David knew what it
was to weep and work and weary, be wearied with a journey. He
knew what it was. Joseph, he didn't go from home
to the throne. He went to the pit. And then
he went to the prison. And he sat in that prison, deserted,
unwanted, unknown, unrecognized. God knew his address. We're so
afraid that nobody's gonna know us. Nobody's gonna recognize
us. Nobody's gonna know where we
are. Well, it doesn't matter as long as God knows where we
are. And if we're his instrument, he'll use us when it pleases
him. He'll sharpen that sword. God doesn't use a dull sword.
It doesn't do anything but damage and tear. God Almighty uses a
sword. He sharpens and hones and prepares
and polishes and gets it ready. And when He's got it ready, it'll
cut both ways. It'll cut both ways. It'll cut
out the rubbish and it'll come back and it'll cut away the corruption
and depravity. It'll wound and it'll heal. He
sharpens it. Turn to Psalm 27. Let me show
you a verse I've been looking at for For years, I don't know
whether I'll ever learn it or not, but I'm trying. In Psalm
27, this is a mark of faith, it's
patient. He said in verse 13, I had fainted,
I had fainted unless I had believed.
That's the only thing that kept me from fainting. I believed. To see the goodness of the Lord
in the land of the living, that kept me going. I believed. that I'd see the goodness of
God. So wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He'll strengthen
thine heart. Wait. Wait. You're not ready yet. If he's
ready, he'd send you. If he's ready, he'd open the
door. If he's ready, you'd recognize it, and so would the one to whom
you witness or teach or preacher, they'd recognize it. Just wait
on the Lord. That's good advice. All right,
let's notice the next thing, Genesis 22, verse 5. Here's another
character of faith. It's certain. Faith is certain. And Abraham said to the young
men, now watch this, down at the foot of that Mount Moriah,
he said, you stay here with the ass. Isaac and I will go up yonder
and worship, and we'll be back We'll be back. Oh, Abraham knew. Abraham believed God. He knew
God had said, Isaac will be a great nation, and he believed it. He
knew God said, in Isaac shall thy seed be called, and he believed
it. He knew that God said that Isaac would have sons and daughters,
and he believed it. And whatever happened at this
present time would not change God's promise and plan and God's
purpose. Abraham had already read the
last chapter of that book. He wasn't worried about what
took place in between Can we come to that place? I've already
read the last chapter Abraham far as he was concerned Isaac
was dead and when God Almighty spared Isaac he received him
as one back from the grave He've already by faith committed Isaac
to the grave. He'd already been In his heart,
he'd already killed Isaac. He'd already offered him. He'd
already surrendered him. He'd already buried him. But
he said, we'll be back. We'll be back. The songwriter said, he leadeth
me. O blessed thought, O words, with heavenly comfort fraught,
I'm content whatever lot I see, since I know it's God's hand
that leadeth me. It doesn't matter what's happening
right now if you know how it's all going to turn out. And I
know how it's going to turn out, for his glory and for my good. All things work together for
good to them who love God, who are thee called according to
his purpose. I've read the last chapter. Abraham
had read the last chapter. He wasn't overly concerned about
what took place in between. Doris kids me about this all
the time, but I'm such a sports fan that I can't stand the pressure
of a game. I'd just rather not watch it,
especially Kentucky basketball. But now I'll turn on, Jim's laughing
at me, he's the same way, but I'll turn on the television and
find out who won the game. And at 11.30 when they play the
replay, I'll listen to it and watch it. Just sit there and
relax and enjoy that game. Because I know who's going to
win, you know. And the other team will get ahead. They'll
get ahead by 10 points. And boy, if I'd have come in
then, I'd have turned that thing off and gone to bed. But I know
it's going to be all right. I know we're going to rally,
you know, and we're going to win. So I don't get all worked
up. That's a good illustration. And if you'll read, Abraham didn't
get all worked up. He didn't get all excited. He
said to those fellas, he said, the boy and I are going up yonder
and we'll be back. And I watch my game and I don't get excited,
you know, and I can sit there and know that they can get as
far ahead as they want to. It looks like we're doomed. It
looks like we're wiped out. A plum wipeout, Jim. But I know,
I know we're going to win. I know we're going to win. And
Abraham knew that Isaac was going to reign. Now that's good advice. We can rest in our God because
everything's all right. Look at verse 7. And Isaac said,
now this faith is informed, that is, faith is taught, faith not
ignorant. You don't trust an unrevealed
Savior. You don't call upon one you don't know. You don't believe
in one of whom you haven't heard. That's a bunch of malarkey. That's
a bunch of foolishness. The more taught a people are,
the more they believe. The foundation of faith is the
Word of God. Faith can't be built on ignorance. It can't be built
on lack of knowledge. It's got to be built on the Word. And the more you know about God's
Word, the stronger your faith. Faith comes from hearing and
hearing by the Word of God. You cannot trust an unreliable...
You hear people say, well, I'm saved. How do you know? Well,
I believe in God. Well, tell me about your God. Well, I just
believe in God. I believe in Jesus. Well, tell me, who is
He and what did He do and why did He do it and where is He
now? Well, I don't know anything about doctrine. I just believe
in Jesus. You don't believe in anything.
You don't have a foundation. And listen to this boy. He said,
Daddy. He said, Father. And Abraham said, I'm right here. He said, well, now, Father, here's
the fire and the wood. I want to know where's the lamb.
That boy knew you couldn't come to God without a lamb, without
sacrifice. That boy had been taught. His
daddy taught him. And here they were, they were
going up there to worship, and he knew good and well you couldn't
worship without a sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no forgiveness. Without the high priest and the
sacrifice, there's no approach to God. He knew without the mediator,
there's no coming to God. He knew that. And he said, Father,
we're not going to worship, we're not going to God without a lamb. I wish every preacher knew that.
If they did, they'd preach Christ more. They'd lay off civil government
and ceremonies and law and all these other things and preach
Christ if they knew that that old sinner couldn't come to God
except through Christ. Gotta have a lamb. And then Abraham
spoke up and he said, Son, I love this. Abraham knew some things
too. Jesus Christ our Lord said, Abraham
saw my day. He was glad. Abraham wasn't ignorant
of redemption. He wasn't ignorant of God's redemptive
glory and Christ's redemptive work. He said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb for burnt offering. There are three things
here. Number one, salvations of the
Lord. The lamb is of God's provision.
God gave the lamb. God so loved the world, he gave
his son. In the fullness of time, God
sent his son. I've come to do the will of my
Father, Christ said. God will provide the Lamb. The
Lamb came from God. And then watch this. God will
provide Himself a Lamb. Now get this, this is very important.
The sacrifice of the Lamb is not in the direction of the sinner.
It's not provided for the sinner's Benefit the lamb is provided
for God's benefit to enable God to be just and justified To enable
God to put your sins away to enable God to be righteous and
yet to be merciful God provided that lamb for himself You see
what I'm saying that lamb was provided for in God's direction.
It was offered unto the Lord always through the Old Testament.
Take a lamb without blemish, without spot, the first thing
of the flock, put it up several days, look after it, watch it,
then sacrifice it unto the Lord. Christ didn't die as a martyr.
He didn't die as an example. He didn't die as an offer. He
didn't die as an example. He died as a sacrifice to God. God provided a Lamb for Himself,
for His righteousness, for His justice, for His holiness. Now
watch this. My Son God will provide Himself
the Lamb. He is the Lamb. You see that? He's the Lamb. He provided it. He provided it for His own justice
and righteousness and He Himself became that Lamb. God was in
Christ reconciling the world to himself. The beauty of this
whole thing is that you and I are totally passive in the redemption
of our souls. We stand back and watch God save
us, salvations of the Lord. We are as helpless as Jonah in
the fish's God Almighty is the one that
does all the work of redemption, from first to last, alpha, omega,
beginning and end, and everything in between. He gave the Lamb,
He gave the Lamb for Himself, and He was the Lamb. He's the
priest, He's the altar, He's the Lamb, He's the sacrifice,
He's the recipient, He's the bestower, He's the applicator,
and He's the keeper. And then you talk about somebody
putting a crown on your head someday and a star in it and
talking about how many souls you won to Jesus and bragging
on you while everybody else sits back and wishes they'd have done
what you did. No, no, that's something wrong with that. Look
at verse 10 now. Faith is rewarded. Verse 13,
let's go down there. And Abraham lifted up his eyes
and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket.
Everything Abraham had was on that altar. His love, his life,
his hope, his joy, his air, everything. He laid it down. He laid her
down. Willingly, lovingly, obediently. And when he came to that place,
he opened his eyes and looked and he beheld the Lamb of God. That's when he saw Christ's day.
You say, I've just never, I've never looked and beheld Christ
in his substitutionary work, Christ in his redemptive glory,
Christ in his sin offering. I've never really, I don't, I
can't say, preacher, that my eyes have ever beheld by faith
Christ as my, as my substitute and redeemer and satisfying all
that God requires. Maybe, maybe you never have been
brought to that place where everything's been laid down. Maybe you're
still helping God out. Maybe you're still looking for
another way. But what I'm saying is this, when it was then that
the Lamb was revealed, it was when Abraham had emptied himself,
when Abraham had obeyed God, when Abraham had put everything
down at God's disposal, that the scripture says, and he looked
and beheld. He didn't see the ram when he
was on his way, he didn't see the ram at the foot of the mountain,
he didn't see the ram on the way up, he didn't see the ram
when he got there, but when all the committal, sink or swim,
I go to him, when all the committal was made, and God knows the heart,
it was then that he saw the Lamb. Now here's the last thing and
I close, here's Faith's song. And verse 14 says, And Abraham
called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said
to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. But
that word there is the Lord will provide. Or Spurgeon used to
say, The Lord will see to it. The Lord will see to it. He has,
He does, and He will. He'll see to it. My daddy used
to say that to me a whole lot. Brother Sly was an old Alabama
saint. We're talking about him tonight. But I used to ask him
to do something. He'd say, I'll see to it. And
I could forget it then. He'll see to it. He'll see to
it. And that's what a virgin says
that statement means. The Lord will see to it. You
can rest. You can put it in His hands.
You can trust Him with your baby, with your family, with your soul,
with your sins, with your future. He'll see to it. in His own good
time, in His own way, where He'll get the glory. And you'll behold
that and see that and rest in it when you come to the place
where you're willing to receive it, when you're willing to let
Him have it. Are you? And if you do, He'll
see to it. He will provide. Our Father,
thank You for strengthening our confidence in our faith. These
things we know. We've been taught them over and
over again. But to experience them is our prayer and our desire.
We know it's so. The Lord will see to it. We can
trust our earthly parents and believe in them and rest in the
security of their hands and their provision. Why can't we trust
our Heavenly Father and rest in Him and wait upon Him? Ten
million times more certain are His promises. Lord, increase
our faith. Do for us what we can't do for
ourselves. Give us saving faith. We pray
for Christ's sake.