Will you turn with me to Genesis chapter
22 and listen as I read the 19
verses which open this chapter.
Genesis chapter 22 verse 1 through verse 19
for our scripture reading.
Now it came about after these things that
God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham.
And he said, here I am.
And he said, take now your son, your
only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go
to the land of Moriah and offer him
there as a burnt offering on one of
the mountains of which I will tell you.
So Abraham rose early in the morning and
saddled his donkey and took two of his
young men with him and Isaac his son.
And he split wood for the burnt offering
and arose and went to the place of
which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham raised his eyes
and saw the place from a distance.
And Abraham said to his young men, stay
here with the donkey and I and the
lamb will go yonder and we will worship
and return to you.
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt
offering and laid it on Isaac his son.
And he took in his hand the fire
and the knife.
So the two of them walked on together.
And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and
said, my father.
And he said, here I am, my son.
And he said, behold the fire and the
wood, but where is the lamb for the
burnt offering?
And Abraham said, God will provide for himself
the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
So the two of them walked on together.
Then they came to the place of which
God had told him.
And Abraham built the altar there and arranged
the wood and bound his son Isaac and
laid him on the altar on top of
the wood.
Incidentally, you will notice that in the opening
part of this account there is a speed,
a celerity almost in the writer's mind getting
to this section.
But now the account stops and we have
it's slow moving and the details are stressed.
This is the important part of the account.
Verse 10.
And Abraham stretched out his hand and took
the knife to slay his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to
him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.
And he said, here I am.
And he said, do not stretch out your
hand against the lad and do nothing to
him.
For now I know that you fear God
since you have not withheld your son, your
only son from me.
Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked and
behold behind him a ram caught in the
thicket by his horns.
And Abraham went and took the ram and
offered him up for a burnt offering in
the place of his son.
And Abraham called the name of that place
the Lord will provide.
As it is said to this day in
the mount of the Lord, it will be
provided.
Then the angel of the Lord called to
Abraham a second time from heaven and said,
by myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord,
because you have done this thing and have
not withheld your son, your only son.
Indeed, I will greatly bless you and I
will greatly multiply your seed as the stars
of the heavens and as the sand, which
is on the seashore.
And your seed shall possess the gate of
their enemies.
You'll notice those of you that have been
following very carefully the account of Abraham's life
and the Abrahamic promises that in that last
clause, we have something new and your seed
shall possess the gate of their enemies.
That suggests that there will be a conflict
and that the seed of Abraham shall overcome.
And thus we have a continuation of the
original protoevangelium, the first preaching of the gospel,
the original promise made to Adam and to
Eve in the garden of Eden, verse 16.
And in your seed, all the nations of
the earth shall be blessed because you have
obeyed my voice.
So Abraham returned to his young men and
they arose and went together to Beersheba and
Abraham lived at Beersheba.
I'll close the reading here.
May the Lord bless this reading of his
word.
The subject for this morning is the Old
Testament's greatest scene.
Can there be any doubt at all that
the sacrifice of Isaac by Abraham is one
of the greatest scenes in the history of
God's salvation?
It is surpassed only by that of the
Son of God.
When the greatest Father offered up his Isaac,
the story here finds its ultimate climax and
antitype.
Christ's cross, which is the fulfillment of the
sufferings of Isaac, surrounds the latter with reflected
glory and makes it one of the most
famous types, if not the most famous in
all of the Bible, of the sufferings of
Christ.
Abraham was tested at the point of his
love for God, and that really is the
ultimate test.
It's remarkable that Abraham succeeded.
One might think that it might have taught
us more if he had failed, but we
find here proof of the fact that a
mortal man may actually make a decision that
is ultimately for God.
Here is evidence of a childlike faith that
must have thrilled the heart of our Eternal
Father.
Now, I'm sure that if we were faced
with a test like this, we would like
to say, well, that's the kind of decision
that we would make.
But for most of us, the air upon
heights like that is a little too rare
to breathe with comfort.
We remember that the Lord Jesus said, He
that loveth father or mother, son or daughter
more than me is not worthy of me.
Of course, we've listened to enough theology and
believers' chapel to know that the reason that
Abraham was able to make this decision was
not because of anything in Abraham's life or
in Abraham naturally.
Well, as a matter of fact, Abraham could
not even stand up to a Pharaoh or
to an Abimelech.
Even then, he would lie and say, she's
really my sister and not my wife.
And so we know from the teaching of
the Word of God that it is because
of that which God had implanted in Abraham
and the aid that he gave Abraham that
Abraham was able to meet this test and
pass it successfully.
The experiences of life bring us tests that
are similar to Abram's.
Most of us at one time or another
have faced tests like this, and if we
have not, well, we are going to face
them like that.
A gifted preacher of a last generation used
to tell the story of a woman who
was broken by a great tragedy in her
life.
She had been living under the crushing burden
of this difficulty for a long time, and
as a result of it, the praise that
she used to give to God had now
turned to complaint.
And finally, one time in great bitterness of
soul over what had happened to her, she
said, oh, would to God that I had
never been made.
And in response to her rebellious words, a
friend said, why, dear child, you have not
been made yet.
You're only being made, and what you are
doing is quarreling with the processes of God
by which he's making you what you are.
The experiences of life are designed to bring
us to maturity, and in Abraham's case, this
is the final test, the test at the
point of the love of God.
Will you give up Isaac for the love
of God?
Now, there are other important things in this
chapter, and it's said that we cannot spend
a long time on this particular chapter because
there are so many things in it.
For example, here we have another link in
one of the great themes of the Bible,
the theme of the Lamb of God.
We have seen from Genesis chapter 4, Abel
making his offering of the firstlings of the
flock.
And here we have in Genesis chapter 22,
another stage in the unfolding of the doctrine
of the Lamb of God.
In the book of Exodus, we will have
still another in the Lamb of the Passover
Supper.
And through the Old Testament, on into the
book of Isaiah, where we will read about
a lamb that is led as, or one
who is led as a lamb to the
slaughter.
And in the New Testament, it is John
the Baptist who says, behold, the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the
world.
And then in the climactic scene in Revelation
chapter 5, John looks and sees not the
lion of the tribe of Judah, but surprisingly,
one, as it were, a slain lamb in
heaven.
It is, of course, a reference to the
Lord Jesus, and that theme of the Lamb
of God is one of the greatest of
the themes of the Bible.
And here in Genesis chapter 22, we have
an important link in that doctrine.
We also have another interesting thing that I've
not made very much comment upon when we've,
as we've gone through the book of Genesis
to this point, and that is the hermeneutical
principle of the law of first mention.
Many Bible students have noticed that when important
words, important doctrinal words are first mentioned in
the book of Genesis, they are usually invested
with a certain meaning which they have through
the rest of the Bible.
And so it has been called the law
of first mention.
And so if you will be on your
guard and notice the first mention of important
terms, you'll probably find some help in the
context with regard to their ultimate meaning.
For example, this is the first time that
we have the word test in the Bible.
It is the first time that we have
the word love in the Bible.
And that's rather interesting because it is the
love of a father for a son.
And when we turn to the New Testament
and read Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we notice
that the first references to love in these
Gospels is the reference of the love of
the Father for the Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And even in the book of John, the
first reference is John 3.16, for God
so loved the world that he gave his
only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish but have everlasting life.
In other words, it would seem from this
that we are to define true love, what
love is by the love of the Father
for the Son.
There are other words that are mentioned for
the first time.
For the first time, God swears in Genesis
chapter 22.
And it's swearing with reference to the promises
of God, reminding us of the inviolability of
the promises that are given by him.
Well, we won't have time to speak of
those things, but I want you to be
able to read the Bible and look for
things like that and profit from them.
We turn now to Genesis chapter 22 and
the preparation for the sacrifice.
We read, now, it came about after these
things.
Well, now we look in the preceding context
and we have read in verse 34, Abraham
sojourned in the land of the Philistines or
Philistines for many days.
Sarah was 93 to 95 years of age
when Isaac was weaned.
Now Abraham stayed in Beersheba or in the
land of the Philistines for many days.
So a period of time has elapsed.
And it came to pass after these things
that the test regarding Isaac took place.
Now we know Sarah's age.
Incidentally, she is the only woman in the
Bible whose age is given.
Isn't that interesting?
Isn't that interesting, ladies?
In other words, there is some scriptural justification
for concealing the years, it would seem.
The question is, do you want to be
like Sarah or like the rest of the
women of the Bible?
Now a woman's age, I have mentioned to
you before, a woman's age can be divided
into seven periods.
There is the infant, the little girl, the
miss, the young woman, the young woman, the
young woman, and the young woman.
So Sarah lived to be 127 years of
age.
So there is approximately 35 years between the
weaning of Isaac and her death.
Now we would presume from this that Isaac,
when he was offered up, was at least
15, 17 years of age.
Some have even suggested he was as old
as 25 years of age.
Now it is true he is called a
lad, and the term na'er, the Hebrew
word na'er, is used with reference to
him, but that word is also very elastic
in its meaning, and it could refer to
someone as old as 25 years of age.
So Isaac was a man who had within
himself the strength and the power to resist
Abraham if he had so willed.
Now it came to pass after these things.
So many years after the weaning of Isaac
that God tested Abraham.
We have no reference, incidentally, to God speaking
to Abraham in the intervening period of time.
So suddenly, after many years of silence, the
blow fell, and it fell like a bolt
from the blue, and it brought him to
the climax of the testing of God.
It was the severest test of Abraham's life.
Abraham, here I am.
Take now your son, your only son, whom
you love, Isaac.
Incidentally, when we read here, God tested Abraham,
we're not to think of him testing Abraham
to bring out the evil.
He tested him to bring out the good
that he had worked in.
Work out your own salvation with fear and
trembling, Paul told the Philippians, for it is
God that worketh in you both to will
and to do of his good pleasure.
So those decisions that we talk about so
much are really decisions that are ultimately determined
by God himself.
It is God that worketh in you both
to will and to do of his good
pleasure.
So whenever we make a decision that is
pleasing to the Lord, it is because he
has already worked in us.
Now, the tests of God are not designed
to cause us to fail.
The tests of God are designed to bring
out that which he has worked in, in
order that he may be glorified.
Putting this on the human level, this was
the test of the trust in God versus
human affection.
Incidentally, also, when God tests us, it's not
because he's angry with us.
We tend to think that he's testing us
because he wants to discipline us.
Well, it's true.
At times, the things that happen to us
are the disciplines of God.
If we refuse the tests of life, well,
then the disciplines of God will come.
And it will be necessary for us to
pass through some very disagreeable experiences.
If we are disorderly at the Lord's table,
some will be weak, some sickly, some even
may lose their lives.
But the tests of God are, on the
other hand, as a general rule, God's vote
of confidence in us.
They are, in effect, his approval of us
because he feels that we are at the
stage where we can meet the tests of
God in his power and strength.
And so when you are suffering the trials
of life and the tests of life, do
not look at those things as evidences of
the discipline of God always.
Look at them as opportunities to come to
understand something of the sustaining power of God
in the experiences of life.
Think of them as something that God wants
to do in order to demonstrate what he
has already done in you.
I notice the words of the command that
came from God to Abraham.
Take now your son, your only son, whom
you love, Isaac.
The order of these words is calculated to
raise the affection of Abraham for his son
to the highest pitch.
Take now your son.
Think of that.
Your only son.
Ishmael is gone now.
Your only son.
The son whom you love.
Isaac.
Laughter.
Mr. Spurgeon says, If George Herbert were speaking
of it, he would say the words are
all a case of knives cutting at Abraham's
soul.
There is scarce a single address, of scarce
a single syllable of God's address to him
in the opening of the trial, but seems
intended to pierce the patriarch to the quick.
It is first take now your son.
A father slay a son?
Of all the possessions of Abraham, and he
had many, why his son?
And then he adds your only son.
The word only takes on a special meaning,
for Ishmael has just recently been sent away
to the wilderness.
And there follows the words whom you love.
He's reminded of the great love for his
only begotten just at the moment when he
is to lose him.
Oh, stern word that seemeth to have no
bowels of compassion in it.
Was it not enough to take away the
loved one without at the same instant awakening
the affections which were so rudely to be
shocked?
So I think you can catch something of
the force of this.
Take now your son, your only son whom
you love, Isaac, and go to the land
of Moriah.
Now the love is designed to mirror the
father's love, but the place is interesting too.
Why the land of Moriah?
Moriah is mentioned in one other place.
In 2 Chronicles chapter 3 and verse 1,
you learn from the Old Testament that Mount
Moriah was the place where Solomon's temple was
later to be built.
And so consequently, it is the place that
is on the level with Calvary and from
which Calvary may be seen.
And in addition, it was the place where
thousands of animals were later to be sacrificed.
Someone has said hecatombs of animals were slain
right on this spot.
It was as if God were to say
to him, take Isaac, offer him on Mount
Moriah, the very place where the animals of
the Old Testament will be sacrificed in the
temple, those that point forward to the Lamb
of God who will be offered in the
centuries that are to come.
And so it's on Mount Moriah that Isaac
is to be offered up.
All of this, of course, anticipating the sufferings
of Christ.
It is a beautifully rich, typical chapter of
biblical teaching.
Now Abraham's response is the response of quick
obedience.
So Abraham rose early in the morning.
What a lesson for Christians.
When the word of God has been given,
quick, instant obedience is the response that should
be made.
He rose early in the morning.
He saddled his donkey, took two of his
young men.
Notice that, because we'll comment on that a
moment.
Two of the young men went with him
and Isaac, his son.
He split the wood for the burnt offering
and he arose and went to the place
of which God had told him.
This quick obedience has been called the habit
of instantaneity.
That is, the habit of doing things instantly.
What a tremendous thing it would be if
when we read the word of God and
we see what God wants us to do,
see his will, we should instantly obey.
Now they reach Mount Moriah and the two
young men are left and Abraham and Isaac
make their way toward the top.
We think of the way in which our
Lord went from the judge pallet to the
cross of Calvary and we call it the
we are Dolorosa.
That is the sad way that our Lord
traversed to Mount Calvary.
Well, this was Isaac's we are Dolorosa as
he and Abraham made their way to the
top of the mountain.
But before they went, Abram turned to the
young men and he said, stay here with
the donkey and I and the lad will
go yonder and we will worship.
What is worship?
Someone has defined worship as worth-ship or
recognizing the worth of an individual, recognizing the
worth-ship of God.
That's true worship, to recognize his worth-ship.
So isn't it interesting that at the greatest
test of Abram's life, he is occupied with
the excellences of his God.
I and the lad will go up to
the top of the mountain and there we
will worship.
Now I think there's something important here.
Right at the moment of the greatest test
of Abraham's life, he is undergirded by the
knowledge that he has of the Holy One.
That's important.
It seems to say to me this, that
at the greatest of the experiences of life,
the times when we are most troubled and
tested by God, the times of the tragedies,
the times of the trials, the times of
the difficulties, the things that help us in
these experiences are the knowledge of the excellences
of our great God.
I know in my own family, there are
Christians in my family who have attended churches
where the gospel is no longer preached.
The gospel used to be preached in these
churches, but it is no longer preached.
I remember particularly one who was especially close
to me, a man who was a godly
man in many ways, but at the same
time he had unfortunately been exposed in the
latter 30 or 40 years of his life
to the ministry that came from a pulpit
that was Christian, but that is about all
that could be said.
There was no exposition of the Word of
God.
And I remember this person saying to me,
we just do not have the exposition of
the Bible.
And when the time came to face up
to the question of leaving this life and
going to be with the Lord, when undergirded
by the knowledge of biblical truth, that experience
might be faced in the strength of God,
he was unable to do it.
Let me say to you, my dear friends,
that when you come to the final tests
of life, the one thing that will aid
you more than anything else is the knowledge
of the truth of God, the knowledge of
the excellences of our God.
Now, it seems to me that if this
is true, and I fully believe that it
is true from my own limited experience, it
is that that sustains a believer in the
times of stress.
How important it is then that we learn
the doctrines of the Word of God, the
truths concerning the being and attributes of our
God, the truths concerning the saving work of
the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, you don't have any excuse in Believer's
Chapel.
We have tried in the ministry of the
Word of God, all of us who are
continually teaching you in the Sunday school, in
the ministry here, in the Believer's Bible Institute,
the Advanced Study Center, our one goal has
been to communicate the doctrines of the Word
of God in order that you might be
strengthened for the experiences of life.
And when they come, it is these great
truths that will strengthen you.
We want you to understand.
That's why we're doing it.
It isn't simply in order that you may
learn some things and become an intellectual Christian
so that you're able to look down upon
the superficiality which so abounds in evangelicalism.
That's not the purpose.
The purpose is to build you up in
the great truths so that when you face
life, you will be able to face it
in the strength of the Word of God.
So Abraham goes up to the top of
Mount Moriah in the greatest stress of life
talking about worship, praising the God who has
asked him to offer the ultimate sacrifice.
Now did you notice too that he said,
I and the lead will go yonder and
we will worship and return to you.
What a magnificent manifestation of faith in what
God was going to do.
You know, there were many ways in which
God might fulfill his own command.
It was not Abraham's part to figure out
how God was going to do it.
He had said, suffer, or he had said,
sacrifice Isaac, and he must obey.
How God was going to bring Isaac back
and make him the seed that he had
promised, well that is God's responsibility.
Isaac really had been dead for three days
in Abraham's mind ever since the time that
God had said, offer him as a sacrifice.
Isaac was dead in the mind of Abraham,
so this is the third day.
They have arrived on the third day.
The likeness to the sufferings of Christ and
the resurrection of Christ is so obvious that
there must be a point, that point in
it.
Now we might have wondered whether this really
was the expression of a faith in the
resurrection.
I and the lead will go yonder and
worship and return again unto you.
But in the New Testament, we have the
comments of the author of the epistle of
the Hebrews.
I always like to stand by the apostles
and the writers of Holy Scripture.
If you are going to have an interpretation,
and if they've got one, that's the one
I want to have, always.
In fact, I want to stand with the
apostles in everything, as far as I'm concerned.
That's good company, because they're in the company
of our Lord.
Here's what the writer of the epistle of
the Hebrews says.
By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered
up Isaac, and he who had received the
promises was offering up his only begotten son.
It was he to whom it was said,
In Isaac your seed shall be called.
He considered that God is able to raise
men even from the dead, from which he
also received him back as a type.
And so the writer of the epistle of
the Hebrews says that Abraham believed that God
was able to raise him from the dead.
And furthermore, he affirms that in Isaac's return
with Abraham, we have a type of the
resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How do you like that interpretation?
Well, I like it.
Now we read that they walked on together.
I read a comment a few days ago
by one of the interpreters to the effect
that, if you say this little expression, they
walked on together, which is repeated twice, has
anything to do with the harmony of the
Father and the Son in the mediatorial work.
That's not exegesis.
Well, it may not be exegesis, according to
that particular interpreter.
And of course, when we're talking about illustrations
from the Old Testament, we recognize these are
illustrations.
And when we get to heaven, we may
discover that there is a point or two
that we've missed.
But it seems to me that this statement,
which is repeated twice, is not repeated without
significance.
So the two walked on together.
And when we turn to the Gospel of
John, we'll find a number of places I
don't have time to turn to them, in
which it is specifically said by our Lord
Jesus that he is carrying out his ministry
in close fellowship with the Lord, the Lord
God, his Father.
He says, the things that I say are
the things that he says to me.
The things that I do, they are the
things that he tells me to do.
I'm not alone.
The Father is with me.
And the picture of Abraham and Isaac walking
up Mount Moriah together, in spite of what
the commentator says, is very reminiscent to me
of the way in which our Lord Jesus
Christ went to the cross at Calvary in
beautiful harmony with the Father in the performance
of his mediatorial work of sacrifice.
Now in the sixth verse, we also read
that he took in his hand the fire
and the knife and he bound Isaac.
Now I should also have said something about
the two young men who were unable to
ascend, but let me leave that for just
a moment.
Notice in the sixth verse it says, Abraham
took the wood of the burnt offering and
laid it on Isaac, his son.
Now that can surely remind us of the
statement made by the Apostle John in the
19th chapter of the Gospel in which we
read these words, they took Jesus therefore and
he went out bearing his own cross.
And so it is Isaac who must carry
the wood for the burnt offering.
But notice who has the fire and notice
who has the knife.
It is Abraham who has the fire and
it is Abraham who has the knife.
We read in the Old Testament some very
interesting things about the sufferings of the Messiah
who is to come.
We read, for example, that when the time
comes for the sufferings of the cross, that
there is no man there.
There is none to help.
The Messiah speaks in that way too in
places in the Old Testament.
There was none to help.
At the point of the intense suffering as
the Redeemer, there is no one to help
the Redeemer.
And furthermore, in the time of judgment when
he comes again at his second advent, there
is no one to help there.
Why are these references in the Old Testament?
Well, to let us know that only the
Father and the Son truly know the price
that is paid for the redemption of our
sins.
Those two men who accompanied them to Mount
Moriah are left at the bottom of the
mount and it is Abraham who is the
figure of the Father and Isaac who is
the figure of God the Son who know
what transpires in the atoning ministry that is
to be accomplished ideally ultimately on Calvary's cross.
It is only the Father and it is
only the Lord Jesus who really know how
much it costs for our sins to be
redeemed.
The prophets say things like this, all we
like sheep have gone astray.
We've turned everyone to his own way and
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity
of us all.
The Lord has caused to smite upon him,
that's the fire and the knife, the fire
of divine judgment and the knife of divine
judgment.
And so it is Abraham the Father who
must pierce Isaac the Son just as it
is the Father who must direct in the
sufferings of the Redeemer, the Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ.
What a beautiful picture of aspects of the
suffering of the Lord Jesus hundreds of years
before it actually took place.
He hath made him to be sin for
us.
Only the Father knows what that means and
the Son who suffered that penalty.
Well Isaac says as they reach, as they
make their way, where's the lamb?
And Abraham replies, God will provide for himself
a lamb.
That too is very significant.
The way of salvation is a way of
salvation provided by God.
Isaac's question has its ultimate answer when John
the Baptist sees the Lord Jesus coming and
says, behold the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world.
Well they reach the top and now the
account slows down and the details are given.
There Abraham built the altar.
I wish that I were able to see
it.
Maybe one of these days we shall actually
have a kind of video account of what
happened and I would like to see exactly
what the old man did when he reached
the top.
He knows what he has to do but
he's a father who loves his son and
I can imagine that he looks around first
for those rocks and he sees some rocks
nearby and some far away and he says,
I think those that are far away will
do a whole lot better.
And so he delays it.
He moves out and takes the farthest ones.
He comes back, he piles them up and
he says, no it won't do to just
pile them up indiscriminately, they will have to
be piled up symmetrically.
And so he spends time on the altar.
And then finally the moment comes when he
must speak in further detail to his son
Isaac.
And inspiration draws a kind of veil over
this last tender scene.
The father's announcement of what he's going to
do, the sobs, the kisses, the signs of
affection between the father and the son, and
then finally the binding of the young man
and the placing him upon the altar.
And so Isaac, the willing victim, is placed
on the altar on top of the wood
and Abraham reaches for the knife, takes the
knife, and just as he is about to
plunge it into the heart of Isaac, the
angel of the Lord, the Lord Jesus calls
forth from heaven, Abraham, Abraham.
My mind goes back to Calvary, of course,
when our Lord was there and at the
point at which he is bearing the spiritual
sufferings of our redemption, reflected in the, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
There is no angel of the Lord to
call out to the father and say, Abraham,
Abraham, then, but the knife must be plunged
figuratively in the, to the heart of the
Son of God in order that the sufferings
might take place that we might have redemption.
The lamb led to the slaughter.
Well, Abraham passes his final exam and all
the great truths of the Bible are suggested
by this passage.
I want to mention something which I think
is important.
I say all the great truths of the
Bible are found right here.
For example, there is the voluntary death of
Isaac.
We have no evidence that Isaac resisted at
all.
And in this, he's the perfect example of
the Lord Jesus who willingly offered himself up
a sacrifice for us.
There is the penal sacrifice suggested for there
must be a death.
The wages of sin is death.
And in the slaying of the ram, there
is an acknowledgement of the need for a
death in order that redemption may take place.
And so the penal sacrifice is taught here.
And then in the substitution of the ram
for Isaac, the son, we have the doctrine
of substitution.
And incidentally, it is an effective substitution.
We read in verse 13, And offered him
up for a burnt offering in the place
of his son.
And Isaac went free by virtue of the
animal that was slain for him.
It was an effective substitution.
And I think we have a reflection of
the fact that in the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ, we have individuals who are
saved.
Not all rendered savable, but certain ones who
are saved.
It is an effective substitution.
Substitution, which is not effective, is not substitution.
We have not defined that term correctly so
often.
We have the sufficiency of the work of
God in salvation.
It is God who provides the lamb.
We have nothing to do with it.
Salvation is of the Lord.
And the deliverance of Isaac was a salvation
that ultimately came from the Lord.
Now there is a text I want you
to notice in a statement in verse 12.
Notice he says, Do not stretch out your
hand against the lad and do nothing to
him.
For now I know that you fear God,
since you have not withheld.
Let me retranslate that.
Since you have not spared your son, your
only son, from me.
Now I say spared because we are all
familiar with the text in Romans 8, in
which the Apostle Paul writes, He that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up
for us all, how shall he not with
him also freely give us all things?
He that spared not his son, but delivered
him up for us all.
Do you know where Paul got those words?
Spare not?
Well, he got them right from this passage.
In the Septuagint or the Greek translation of
the Old Testament, we have the precise words
that the Apostle uses in Romans chapter 8
and verse 32.
It was his meditation upon this passage that
led him to express the sufferings of our
Lord in these words.
He that spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all.
Now let me say something to you.
I say this in love and, I hope,
friendly compassion.
I have some good friends.
They are good friends of mine.
They call themselves four-point Calvinists.
By that they mean that they believe in,
they say, total depravity, unconditional election, efficacious grace,
and the perseverance of the saints or the
eternal security of the believer.
They affirm that they are four-point Calvinists,
but they don't believe in definite atonement.
They don't believe that the Lord Jesus really
died for those whom the Father elected, but
rather that he died for everyone.
Now, in my opinion, this is only my
opinion, these are my friends.
In my opinion, to say I am a
four-point Calvinist is a code term.
It's a code term that means I'm against
the fifth point, against definite atonement.
Because if I can catch my friends off
guard and ask them, do you believe in
free will?
Most of them, 90% of them, will
say, oh yes, I believe in free will.
Little realizing that if they believe in free
will, they cannot believe in total depravity, unconditional
election, or efficacious grace.
Really, they are one-point Calvinists.
As they say over in the South, they're
whiskey Calvinists, they believe a fifth.
Now, there are, however, some true four-point
Calvinists.
Historically, they were called Amaraldians.
That's what they are, Amaraldians.
Now, I want to ask you a question.
Is God confused?
Is it possible that the Father elects a
certain number of people, the Holy Spirit, and
my friends who are four-point Calvinists believe
this, that the Holy Spirit works in the
hearts of the elect only to bring them
to Christ efficaciously.
The Father elects a certain number, the Spirit
brings this same number to Christ, but the
Lord Jesus, contrary to the intentions of the
Father and the Spirit, dies for all?
Is it possible that we have the Father
and the Spirit working toward one end and
the Son working toward another?
Do we have confusion within the persons of
the Trinity?
Is it possible that we have two votes
for those who are elect and one for
all, and consequently the Father and the Spirit,
by democratic processes, have won out?
Or is it possible that we believe in
a frustrated deity?
Is it possible that we believe that Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, the God-Man,
intended to die for all, but He was
unable to accomplish His purpose of saving all?
Is that possible?
Do we have a frustrated deity?
Can we really believe in limited sovereignty?
Do not those terms contradict one another?
Now, I want you to look at the
text in Romans 8.
He that spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all.
Notice the argument.
How shall he not with him also freely
give us all things?
What does Paul mean by that?
Why, he means, my dear friend, that if
the Lord Jesus has offered Himself up for
us all, that's the greatest thing that God
could do.
Now, being the greatest thing that God could
do, will anything less than that be withheld?
He that spared not his own son, but
delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us
all things?
If He really gave Himself for us all,
everything else is less than that.
If He's given the most, He'll surely give
that which is least.
The argument is an argument that is inviolable.
The apostle states that if He really did
this, everything else is less.
If He gave Himself for all, He'll surely
give the Holy Spirit to bring them to
Christ.
Is it possible we have a God who
loves the world enough to give Christ to
die for it, but not enough to give
the Holy Spirit to bring them to Christ?
Is that the kind of God that we
believe in?
Well, I must speak for myself.
No, I don't believe in that kind of
God.
I believe in a God who is not
a frustrated deity, but sovereign and who accomplishes
His purposes.
I have a friend who is reacting very
much against this, and he says, well, there's
a lot of logic in what you're saying.
Yes, it's biblical logic.
But he's now come up with the doctrine
of asymmetrical sovereignty.
And he tries to support that logically.
So by logic, we will support illogic.
Asymmetrical sovereignty.
There is no such thing.
You cannot argue for illogic by the use
of logic.
The Bible is plain and clear.
It's just that we have a difficult time
accepting the doctrines about which I've been speaking.
I know I had a difficult time.
I do have compassion for my friends who
are struggling with this, because I struggled with
it for 10 or 15 years.
But when we read, he that spared not
his own son, but delivered him up for
us all, how shall he not with him
also freely give us all things?
We're bound and determined to follow the teaching
of that which we feel is the word
of God.
Now, the chapter concludes with a commemoration of
the name, of the place by the name,
and a final swearing by God, by which
he swears that he will bless Abram.
That's new, incidentally.
This is the first time that God swears
in the Scriptures.
Well, the issue is the issue of love
for God.
How much will a mortal man do for
God's love?
Well, nothing apart from the prevenient grace of
God.
Not a single one of us would ever
love God.
Not a single one of us would ever
make a decision like Abraham made, apart from
the fact that God has poured forth into
our hearts through the Holy Spirit the love
of God.
And here Abraham reaches the climax of his
spiritual experience in the offering up of Isaac,
and he's carried to victory by a sovereign
master.
As anyone who ever does anything for the
glory of God knows, it is by a
sovereign master that we are carried to victory.
The Lord Jesus said, He that loveth father
or mother, son or daughter more than me
is not worthy of me.
Abraham is worthy, but he is only worthy
by the worth of his great God.
In the New Testament, there's an interesting statement
made.
In John chapter 8 and verse 56, the
Lord Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see my
day, and he saw it and was glad.
Now, I don't know that this is the
day upon which Abraham saw the Lord Jesus
who was to come, but it certainly seems
to be an ideal time for him to
come to a realization of the Lord Jesus
who was to come.
Seeing all that had transpired and how Isaac
is saved through the sacrifice of the ram,
it surely is a fitting occasion upon which
Abraham might have come to a full understanding
of the coming of the Lord Jesus.
And he looked down through the years and
saw the Redeemer who was to come.
Perhaps in the mists of the future, he
only recognized that a Redeemer, a person of
redeemer would come, but he saw it.
And if that is the time, it makes
no difference really.
Abraham's life from this time on was determined,
lit up by the experience on Mount Morau.
I say to you in the audience, if
you're here today and you have never believed
in our Lord Jesus Christ, he has offered
the atoning sacrifice which is available for sinners.
I do not know who the elect are.
No one knows who the elect are.
We are told by the grace of God
to preach the gospel to all.
All are sinners.
The saving work of Christ is for sinners.
If God the Holy Spirit has brought you
to the knowledge of your sin, then the
death of Christ is there for you and
for your redemption.
We call you to it.
If you sit in the pews of this
church and say, I don't know whether I'm
elect or not or I don't like the
doctrine of election, I won't come, you have
no excuse.
You get exactly what you desire.
But if by the grace of God you
have been brought to conviction of your sin,
the saving work of the Lord Jesus is
available for you.
And as you come to him and receive
the free gift of everlasting life, you'll know
what it is to be saved, to have
the forgiveness of sins, to become a priest
of God, to be justified, declared righteous.
You'll also have the conviction that you have
been from ages past one of God's elect
individuals.
May you come to Christ.
Put your trust in him.
Don't leave this auditorium without the sense of
the assurance of the forgiveness of sins through
the blood that was shed.
Come to Christ.
We appeal to you as an ambassador of
the Lord Jesus.
Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou
shalt be saved.
May we stand for the benediction.
Father, we are so grateful to thee for
these wonderful truths.
How wonderful and how great it is to
know that there has come a Redeemer, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who has offered the sacrifice
for sins that saves.
And we pray, O Father, that if there
are some in this audience who have never
believed in him, O give them no rest
nor peace.
Cause them to know the terror of their
lost condition.
And may they flee by the grace of
God the Spirit to the foot of the
cross to receive the free gift of everlasting
life.
O Father, work mightily in the hearts of
the lost who are here.
And among the saved, build us up in
our faith.
We thank thee for a sovereign master to
whom we are totally indebted.
We worship thee and we praise thee.
Glorify thy name for Jesus' sake.
Amen.