that hymn. What a blessing to
be in the hollow of His hand. If you will this morning I want
you to open your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 22 and
I trust that you will turn here in your Bible and follow along
with me today as we study from God's Word Actually, as we look
at the first few verses in Genesis 22, I have three subjects, three
divisions in my message. First, the trial of Abraham. That's the first thing I want
us to think about today, the trial of Abraham. And then second,
the picture of redemption and substitution. That'll be the
second part of the message, the picture here of redemption and
substitution. And then thirdly, I would like
to think about the blessings which are in Abraham's seed,
his seed that is mentioned in verse 19. So first, the trial
of Abraham. looking in verses one through
three. And it came to pass after these
things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, here I am. And he said, take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the
land of Moriah. and offer him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of." The
trial of Abraham. This was not the first time that
Abraham was tried. In fact, many of the writers
believe that these words after these things refer to the many
different trials that Abraham experienced All are agreed that
this had to be the greatest of all his trials, the last one
that is actually recorded for us in the word of God. Though
he had many trials, God brought many trials in the life of Abraham,
yet this was the greatest of all, the sacrifice of Isaac. Let me just remind us of this,
he had sent the son of the handmaid away before this. And we know
from the scripture that was a very grievous thing for Abraham to
send Ishmael away. He had gone through that trial.
Yet this trial was much, much more grievous for a number of
different reasons. If you notice, when God spoke
to Abraham, he said, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac. Well, we know that Abraham did
have another son before Isaac, but this was the only son which
was the son of promise, the son which God had promised Abraham
from his wife, Sarah. And we know that God fulfilled
the promise when Sarah was 90 years of age and Abraham was
99. that God fulfilled his promise
that he would give him a son, him and Sarah a son. And in this
son, all the nations of the earth, all the families of the earth
would be blessed. This trial was much more grievous
because this was the son of promise. And you notice how that God told
Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest. He loved Isaac maybe greater
than any of his other sons. And God brought this trial upon
Abraham that he would take his only son, Isaac, the only son
of promise, and the son that he loved, and the son through
whom Abraham knew that the seed, the Savior, would come. And to
make this trial even more grievous to Abraham, no doubt, was God's
command that Abraham himself would, with the knife, offer
his son Isaac up, that he would be the one who would offer Isaac
up as a burnt offering unto the Lord. I cannot imagine a greater
trial than this trial that God brought upon Abraham. Let me
just remind us of this, that Abraham knew the voice of God. This wasn't the first time God
had spoken unto him. He knew this was God speaking,
that it was the word of the Lord. It was the word of His Lord. And we know from this narrative
here that Abraham, he did not confer with flesh and That reminds
us of Saul of Tarsus, when the Lord Jesus Christ revealed himself
unto Saul that day on the road to Damascus. And after his eyes
were opened, the scripture says, he immediately preached that
Jesus is the Son of God. He immediately went into the
synagogues. And then in the letter of Galatians,
he tells us that he didn't confer with flesh and blood, but that
he immediately began to preach the gospel that Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. Now, Abraham, when God told him,
and as I said, Abraham recognized this was the voice of God, God
was speaking to him, God spoke to him, God commended him to
take his son and offer him up as a burnt sacrifice and he did
not confer with flesh and blood. Let me ask you this question.
When we see here that Abraham was tried, the scripture says,
after these things, the Lord, that is God, did tempt, did try
Abraham. Let me ask this question. Are
believers, are the children of God today tried As we see that
Abraham, who is called the father of the faithful, as he was tried,
are men tried today? In answer to that question, I
would just say none today will ever be tried like Abraham was
tried in the same way, that is to offer up his son as a sacrifice
unto God. But yes, are believers tried
today? Yes. The Apostle Peter in his
first letter, the first chapter, speaking to believers who were
rejoicing, and that's the norm for God's children. We are to
rejoice. Paul said that we are to rejoice
always in the Lord. That's the norm for God's people. We are a rejoicing people. If we know Christ as our Lord
and Savior, If we know that our sins have been put away, if we
know that God is our Father today, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
why wouldn't we be rejoicing? This should be the norm. But
yet, Peter says, in the midst of rejoicing, 1 Peter 1, verses
6 and 7, he said, though now for a season, Though now for
a season, for this brief time in your life, even though you
are rejoicing, now for a season, if need be, now listen, you are
in heaviness, heaviness through manifold temptations, that the
trial of your faith, notice that, that the trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Yes, you are in
heaviness through manifold temptations, and that word that's translated
there, temptations, is the same word. that James translated in
James chapter 1 and verse 2, counted all joy. Brethren, counted
all joy when you fall into divers temptations. And Peter makes
it clear here. It's not fall into temptations,
that is temptations to sin, no. It is temptations or trial, testing
of your faith. This is what the scripture is
speaking of. He's not speaking of temptations
to sin. Remember the Lord taught his
disciples in that prayer, that model prayer, lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. We're not to count
it all joy when we are tempted to evil, tempted to sin. But
yes, we are told that we are to count it all joy when we fall
into manifold or different kinds of temptations. That is the trying,
the trial of our faith. True faith will always be tried,
my friends, it always will. Again, the Apostle Peter in that
first letter said, Beloved, think it not strange, think it not
strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you as
though some strange thing happened to you. Oh, but you say, Preacher,
Preacher, I was told that if I would just repeat this prayer,
that all of my worries would be over. All of my troubles would
be ended in this life. Now, if I just believe God, if
I just have faith, then I will not experience any trials, any
troubles, any difficulties in this world. If you were told
that, you were told a lie. That's not true, my friends.
God never has promised his children exemption in this world from
trials, from testings, from troubles, yea, even from tribulation. The
Lord Jesus told his disciples, in the world you shall have tribulation. And the Apostle Paul and Barnabas,
they exhorted the believers in their day that through many tribulations
we must enter into the kingdom of heaven. Some people say, well,
if you only have faith, if you only have faith, if you only
believe God, you'll never be sick. If you only have faith,
if you believe God, you'll be wealthy. Everything will be smooth
sailing for you in this world. What a lie. Let me ask you, did
Abraham have faith? You know he did. Yes, he staggered
not, the scripture says, at the promise of God. Yes, Abraham
faith. Did Abraham know trials? Sure
he did, and we're looking at one of them today. Think about
Job, the patriarch Job. God said there's none like him
in all the earth. Did he have faith? Did he believe
God? You know he did, because he said,
though he slay me, yet will I serve him. Yes, he knew trials, he
knew troubles. What about Jeremiah? I was thinking
about this prophet the other day, when they led him down in
that dungeon and the scripture says he sunk in the mire. Can
you imagine that? Sinking down in the mire, in
this dungeon, and humanly speaking, if it had not been for that one
man, He would have starved in that dungeon. But God, of course,
was faithful and raised up that man in the king's palace who
helped him and interceded with the king so that he was supplied
bread. But yes, Jeremiah suffered. Jeremiah had troubles. What about
Paul, the apostle Paul? Did he know afflictions? Did
he know trials and difficulties? Yes, my friends, he did. And
I know from experience, both in my life and as a pastor, seeing
what God's people go through, how God has tried God's people.
Many times, his people I've seen tried with health problems. I've
seen God's people tried with financial problems. I've seen
God's people tried with an unbelieving spouse. I've seen many ways that
God tries his people. And yes, these trials, they all
are part of the all things that work together for good to those
who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose.
I tell you what trials will do. It will cause you to look to
Christ, my friends. If you are a true child of God,
it will cause you to be more fervent, to be more earnest in
your prayers when you are going through some fiery trial. It
certainly will. God's never promised his children
exemption from trials, from afflictions in this world. But I tell you
what he has promised us. He's promised that he would be
with us. He would be with us in the trial. One preacher I
heard used to make this statement, we don't know what's ahead, but
we know who's ahead. And that's certainly true. We
don't know what a day may bring forth. But thank God, we know
God, if we are his children today, we know him who is ahead and
who is in control, who is sovereign over all things. This trial of
Abraham, it didn't just spring up out of the earth. And no matter
what trial God may lead you through, it didn't just spring up out
of the earth. It's something that God has planned
and ordained from old eternity, my friends. And you may be sure
that somehow it's going to work together for your good if you
are one who loves God and who is called according to his purpose. So that's the first subject I
thought we would look at, the trial of Abraham. But now moving
on, the second subject here is the picture of redemption and
substitution. Let's begin reading in verse
3. And Abraham rose up early in
the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young
men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood for the
burnt offering, and rose up, and went into the palace, or
into the place, rather, of which God had told him. Then on the
third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar
off. And Abraham said unto his young
men, Abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go
yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham said unto his young men, abide
ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship
and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took
the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together.
And Isaac spoke unto Abraham his father and said, my father.
And he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire
and the wood, But where's the lamb for a burnt offering? And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. So they went both of them together.
And they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham
built an altar there, laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac
his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham
stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
The angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said,
Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here am I. And he
said, lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything
unto him. For now I know that thou fearest
God, seeing 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 a thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his
son. 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. Everything, I want you
to notice, and this passage of scripture certainly would serve
for a message. I'm just making it part of my
message today, the picture of redemption and substitution. But I want to point out a few
things. Everything is prepared. Abraham
had everything prepared when they got to that place where
God had told him he should offer up his son Isaac. Everything
was prepared for the burnt offering. They had the wood, they had the
fire, and Abraham had the very sharp knife. And I know that
this pictures to us how that God Almighty, remember he offered
up his only son, his beloved son, this pictures to us how
that God had prepared all things from old eternity. God had planned
all things and purposed all things according, as the Apostle Peter
said, to his determinate counsel and foreknowledge. He had determined
everything. That's the reason Jesus Christ
is spoken of in the scripture as a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. God's purpose, Him, Peter said,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God, you have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. Remember this, wicked men, wicked
men who had wicked hands. And the scripture is very clear
that all men were involved in this. The Gentiles, that is the
Roman soldiers, the Jews, Pilate, Herod, All men were joined together,
all men joined together to thwart, if they possibly could, God's
purpose and God's plan. And they did what they did willingly. And they did what they did freely. God didn't stick a gun to their
head and command them and demand them to do these things. They
did everything that they did willingly. And yet, at the same
time, they did everything that God had purposed and determined
to be done from before the foundation of the world. We see the sovereignty
of God in this, how that God Almighty, as the scriptures teach
us, He works all things after the counsel of His own will.
And yes, the crucifixion of his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, this
too was determined before the foundation of the world. The wood, I like to think about
this, the wood that Abraham took and laid it upon his son Isaac. Could that not picture to us
how that God the Father took the sins of his people and laid
them, caused them to meet upon Jesus Christ. Took the wood off
of the donkeys that had carried the wood and laid it upon his
dear son. What a picture, to me at least,
of imputation. How that God took the sins of
his people. The Lord Jesus Christ referred
to it as a cup. He said, this cup which my father
hath given me, Should I not drink it? Yes, the sins of his people
that he took and bore them, Peter tells us, in his own body on
the tree. And he carried them away. That
was pictured by the scapegoat, wasn't it? That was pictured
by the scapegoat on the day of atonement, when the high priest,
after sprinkling the blood of the one goat on the mercy seat,
and before the mercy seat would come out and lay his hands upon
that scapegoat. And that pictured the transference
of the sins of Israel, the sins of God's people. to the scapegoat. And then the scapegoat was led
away, never to be seen again. The Lord Jesus Christ, God laid
upon Him the sins, the iniquities, the transgressions of His people. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him, my friends. because he was bearing the sins
of his chosen people in his body that day on the tree. And the
father laid those upon him. And then this might also picture
how that he was laid upon the wood that is the cross. And remember
the scripture says, cursed is he that hangeth upon a tree. And the Lord Jesus Christ was
made a curse for his people. That curse, what is the curse?
It's death, death. In the day that thou eatest thereof,
thou will surely die. And yes, the Lord Jesus Christ
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, which is death. And
he did so by himself being made a curse, being laid upon that
tree, nailed to that tree, the wood being laid upon him. But
we can't help but notice Isaac's question. Can you picture in
your mind, Abraham was an old man. He was an old man when Isaac
was born. And now Isaac, he's not some
small lad, my friends. He's a young man, to say the
least. And here he and his older father,
they go up the mountain together. And Isaac looks at his father
and he says, father? And his father says, here am
I. He said, here's the wood, and here's the fire, but where's
the lamb? Isaac knew. Isaac knew. He had been taught, as all of
the believers in the Old Testament, those who were truly believers,
were all taught this same thing, that without the shedding of
blood, there is no remission of sin. that to worship God,
to approach unto God, my friends, there must be a sacrifice that
God will accept. And that sacrifice must be perfect. Father, where's the lamb? And don't you just love Abraham's
response? My son, God shall provide himself
a lamb. And you know, you can understand
that one of two ways, can't you? that the Lamb of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ, He satisfied the Father. God provided Himself
a Lamb. And then it might be understood
that God Himself is the Lamb, because the Lamb of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, He is God, manifest in the flesh. And then
don't we see substitution? Abraham saw a ram after Isaac
was there on that altar, and the knife was raised, and in
his heart, in his heart, Abraham obeyed God. He sacrificed his
son. But we see substitution, don't
we? Now that the angel of the Lord
stayed his hand, and Abraham saw there was a ram there caught
in the bushes. And so he took the ram and offered
him up for a burnt off in the stead, in the place of his son,
Isaac. Let me tell you something, my
friend. When the gospel is preached, you will hear these two things.
Always. You will hear the gospel preached
when these two things are part of the message. First of all
is satisfaction. God must be satisfied. There must be a sacrifice. There
must be an offering that God will accept that satisfies the
justice of God. And number two, substitution.
that Christ, in the stead of his people, in the place of his
people, he did satisfy God's justice. He bore the wrath of
God in his own body for his people. Therefore, we are freed from
that wrath. We're delivered from the wrath
to come, the scripture says. Now here's the third part of
the message. I'll be brief. the blessings in Abraham's seed. You notice in verse 18, it says,
And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,
because thou hast obeyed my voice. The Lord tells Abraham, now this
is the second time, this is the second time that God told Abraham,
in thy seed shall all the families or all the nations of the earth
be blessed. What is different about this
time is that God takes an oath. He takes an oath this time. And
according to Hebrews chapter six, that this oath is one of
two immutable things. It's one of two immutable things. One thing is God's counsel. That
is that everlasting covenant and God's oath. Two immutable
things, whereby those who flee to Christ, those who run to Christ,
those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, who look to him
for all their salvation, who trust in him and in him alone. that we might have a strong consolation,
those who flee to him. Now, three things I want to point
out quickly, and I'll be through. Three things. First of all, who
is this seed of Abraham? Well, it is Christ. There's no
question about that. It is Christ. In Hebrews chapter
two and verse 16, the writer said, this concerning the captain
of our salvation, For verily he, that is the eternal Son of
God, he took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him
the seed of Abraham. This seed that God promised to
Abraham, in whom all the nations of the earth would be blessed,
is Christ, is the Lord Jesus Christ. Number two, and listen
to me carefully here. of all the families of the earth
who would be blessed in this seed. Who are they? Who are they? I don't think anyone, except
maybe a universalist, a true universalist, would ever believe
that this promise, when God said, in thy seed shall all the families
of the earth be blessed, that he's saying that each and every
individual in every nation of the world will be blessed in
this seed. Who are they then? Well, according
to Paul in Galatians chapter 3, they which be of faith. They must be of faith or blessed
with faithful Abraham. In other words, those who trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are blessed in this one, this
promised seed. He is the blessing. You know,
Paul in Ephesians 3 speaks about the fact that this truth was
a mystery. What does he mean by mystery? What is he talking about, this
mystery? Well, he tells us that the Gentiles, that the Gentiles
should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of
his promise in Christ by the gospel. Now, Paul said it had
not been revealed as it is now revealed unto him. It was revealed,
it was revealed in this promise. It was revealed in this promise.
In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth, not just the Jewish
nation, not just the physical descendants of Abraham, but all
the nations of the earth would be blessed in this seed. Who
are they? They are they who, like Abraham,
believe in Christ. The just shall live by faith. when John was given the privilege
in Revelation chapter five to look into heaven. You remember
what he saw, that great host of people there, they were all
praising and worshiping the Lamb. And this is what they said. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open it. For thou was slain and has redeemed
us under our God. Now notice, out of every kindred,
every family of the earth, every tongue, every blood, every people
of the earth. It was revealed now, manifested
in a way that it had not been manifested before because the
Lord Jesus Christ commanded his disciples to go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. Whosoever believeth
shall be saved. And let me just give us four
blessings in Abraham's seed and I'll close. First of all, redemption. Where will a sinner find redemption
in Abraham's promised seed in Christ? He is the redeemer. Justification that is being justified,
declared righteous before God. Where will a sinner find that
justification? in Abraham's seed in Christ,
being justified freely by his grace through the redemption
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Peace, peace with God. Where will a sinner find peace
with God? In Abraham's promised seed. He
purchased peace for his people through the blood of his cross. And the last thing I would mention
is pardon. Where will a sinner find pardon
for his sins? only in Abraham's promised seed,
the Lord Jesus Christ. In him, we are accepted. Our sins are forgiven. They're
put away. What a tremendous gospel the
Lord has given unto us in his word. And no matter where we
look, In the Old Testament, New Testament, same gospel, same
Savior, same need that men have to have their sins put away.
And there's only one way, and that is through Christ and His
perfect redemption. I trust the Lord will bless this
word. I'm going to ask Bill, if he
will, to come and sing again. This time, if you'd like to sing
along, he's going to sing that hymn all the way. The Savior
leads us all the way. I forgot the number of that.
Number 296 if you want to turn all the way. Thank you.