This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:00] I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to Genesis 12 as we are going to study the life of Father Abraham. Father Abraham had many sons, many sons had Father Abraham.

[00:00:16] Who's ever heard that one before? I am one of them. And so are you. So let's all praise the Lord. Right arm. Father Abraham. Anybody know what I'm talking about right now? Okay. So if you've grown up going to church, you've heard about Abraham. Maybe this your first time studying Abraham. But we are going to get into his life together this morning and then we're going to read the story of his life. This week, we're going to talk about it in our fellowship groups. In Abraham is an example of a man of faith. So turn with me to Genesis Chapter twelve. We're on page eight here. So we started out on page one last week. If you were here, we made it all the way to page eight. This last week. All right. So if you're saying, well, that's a lot of Bible reading. Well, let's just clarify. It was eight pages. That's how much it was. All right. And this next week, we're gonna try to get all the way to page 21. And it's one of the bigger chunks we're gonna try to do. It's 15 chapters this week, but it's the story of the life of Abraham. We're trying to get it all in one week because last week it was exciting here at the church. A lot of people were reading Genesis and talking about it in their fellowship groups whose pumped up about Genesis right now.

[00:01:31] There's a lot of response about this and it's great. And people are asking all kinds of questions. And I heard people saying like, well, I want to know why Abels sacrifice was better than Cain sacrifice or I want to know more about Enoch who walked with God. And then he was not for God took him like, what's that about? Why does it say that Noah was righteous? And he found favor or grace with God? Who are these people? I want to know more about them. While Abraham is the guy that we do a Deep Dove study on here in Genesis. This is the guy that we get to really see fleshed out in front of our eyes as an example of a man who had faith in God. And it starts right here in Genesis, chapter twelve, verse one.

[00:02:17] Let me read for us the first four verses here. These are famous versus Genesis twelve versus one to four, says now the Lord said to Abraham. That's how his name was originally until God changed his name to Abraham, the father of many nations. The Lord said to Abraham, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you.

[00:02:55] I will curse ending you. All the families of the Earth shall be blessed.

[00:03:04] So Abraham went as the Lord ad told him in lot went with him. Abraham was 75 years old when he departed from Iran. Now that that passage right there is often referred to as the Abrahamic Covenant. It is a promise that God makes to this man here that he's going to give him a land. That's where the famous phrase the Promised Land comes from is right here in these verses. There's a promise land. There's going to be a promise nation, which we know to be the Jewish people, the nation of Israel. That is that is in existence right now, this very day in the spot that God promised speak in the language of Hebrew that Genesis was written in. And then it's also that this nation that lives in this land, that they're going to be a blessing to all the peoples who are all the families who are going to live on planet Earth, will be blessed through the descendants of Abraham. And so what an amazing, overwhelming promise for God to make with this man. And Abraham's response is amazing right away. And we're going to see this three different times here from from Abraham or here is Abrams still. So Abraham wins, says the Lord had told him.

[00:04:29] So he's an example of faith. When God says something to him, he hears the word of the Lord. He believes what God says. And then he responds in faith that he trusts what God is saying. And he goes.

[00:04:46] I mean, yeah, there's an amazing promise of land and nation now really blessing the entire planet Earth. All the people on the earth are gonna be blush through you. What an amazing promise. But the promise comes with a cost. Look back at verse one where the Lord said to Abraham, Go.

[00:05:04] Like, if you want to go to get this land, if you want to have a a nation full of descendants, well, you've got to go and look what he's got to leave behind. Go from your country, go from your kindred and go from your father's house. I mean, you got it. You got to leave the culture, the people that you know, you got to go to a different place where there's different people with different ways. You're kindred all of your all the extended family, all of the friends, the whole life that you've grown up. No one.

[00:05:37] Even your father's house, it says, which was so important. One of the things we have to understand about the context of Genesis and this time of the world at the law is it was all about the father passing on the inheritance to his son.

[00:05:51] That's what we're tracking through generation to generation. And so to leave not just your country, not just all the people you know and love, but to leave your father's house, that's to leave without receiving your inheritance. That's to leave without your financial security for the future.

[00:06:08] That's the break, the whole chain of how life win at that time.

[00:06:13] And when he hears the word of the Lord.

[00:06:16] When he hears the promise that God says, I'm going to give you a land, I'm going to make of you a nation. I'm going to bless all the world through you. Abraham goes because he believes God's word.

[00:06:29] If you're taking notes, if you've got the hand out here and you're taking notes next to Genesis 12, you should write down Hebrews eleven, verse eight, which puts Abraham in this long list of believers there in what we call the Hall of Faith. All these examples of faith.

[00:06:44] And it says that Abraham, he went out by faith, not knowing where he was going. He couldn't see where he was going. All he had was the promise of God. The word of the Lord. But for Abraham, that was enough. He believed what God said. And it led him to go. His faith produced that action in his life because he not only took God at his word, he trusted in the word of God.

[00:07:12] And so he goes and he gets there to the land and looked down at verse seven. This is Genesis twelve, verse seven. It says, Then the Lord appeared to Abraham and said to your offspring, I will give this land.

[00:07:25] And we're finding out that offsprings really the theme of Genesis. That's what God said to Satan. If you were here last week, he said from the offspring of the woman is going to come the one who's gonna crush the head of the serpent. And so from the offspring of the woman, that's what we've been tracking now. We've been tracking these genealogies and how it's come down to Abraham.

[00:07:48] And here God appears to Abraham and he says, hey to you, to your offspring, I'm gonna give this land. It's come in through you.

[00:07:58] And Abrams believed God go to Genesis 15 and you'll see this again, there's so many different chapters we could turn to that we're gonna read through together this week that represent Abraham's faith. Now that he when he heard the word of the Lord, he believed it. Look at how it says it here in Genesis. Chapter fifteen, verse one. We're on page ten now.

[00:08:21] And it says, after these things, the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision. So a little bit later now here comes more word from the Lord Fearnot Abraham. I am your shield. Your award shall be very great. But Abrams said, Oh, Lord God, what will you give me for I continued, child, this and the air of my house is Elie Azer of Damascus.

[00:08:46] And Abrams said, Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir.

[00:08:57] Now Abraham's bringing up a real obstacle to the promise of God. He's bringing up hey, hey, I yeah, I'm hearing your promises. He's even trusting in the promises. But remember how you said to my offspring, you will give this land. Hey, little problem here. I have no offspring. I don't have a son.

[00:09:16] How old was Abraham? We just read it when God first gave him the promise. How old was he? Seventy five years old. Hey, now, if you've been reading through Genesis. People have been living a little longer than they live today. Right. But still, we get the impression that 75 years old is old to be having a son.

[00:09:38] In fact, Sarah, his wife has been barren.

[00:09:41] They have had no children. And now he's 75 years old. And the guy who would inherit everything right now is not his son. It's some dude, Ellie Azer of Damascus.

[00:09:56] And he's saying, hey, I hear your promises, but, hey, we got a real problem. I've got no son, is what he's saying, right?

[00:10:04] In fact, when is the son going to be born?

[00:10:07] We know that he is born at 100 years old. Everybody 100 years old. So for 25 years, this guy has nothing to go on.

[00:10:20] But the word of God.

[00:10:24] And he's bringing up hey, we've got a real problem in the plan. And look what happens in verse four. I really need everybody to see this. This could be one of the most important things you're going to see in your entire life. OK. Genesis fifteen, starting in verse four. And behold. So even Moses, when he's right in Genesis here, wants you to look at this behold, like pay attention. Can you can you give this a special look right here?

[00:10:48] Behold the word of the Lord came to him.

[00:10:53] This man shall not be your heir.

[00:10:57] Your very own son shall be your air. And E brought him. God brought Abraham outside and said, look toward heaven.

[00:11:08] And no, the stars if you are able to number them. Then he said to him, So shall your offspring be.

[00:11:19] What an amazing moment.

[00:11:21] Abraham brings up this this real obstacle, the fact that he doesn't have a son, so how could his offspring take the land and God doubles down on the promise that he will have a son. And then he, in this amazing moment, takes him outside. Look at all the stars. If you've been out where there's no lights and you've been able to see the stars lately, it can be awesome when you really get to see all of them. How many there are. Hey, count those stars if you can even count them.

[00:11:50] That's how much offspring you're going to end up having. Abraham, what an amazing thing.

[00:11:57] And then verse six says that he, Abraham, believed the Lord and he God counted it to Abraham as what does it say there was?

[00:12:07] This is one of the most important principles we are ever going to preach right here at this church. And we need to be so clear. Everybody needs to understand. What I'm saying is that when we are saved, we are saved by faith and we are saved by faith alone.

[00:12:24] We don't do anything to get save. Can I get any man from anybody on this? OK. This is so important for us to understand.

[00:12:34] And we need to ask if you have a hard time understanding this. We need to ask the Holy Spirit to give us spiritual wisdom and understanding so we can really know what it stand right here. This is a famous verse. You should write down Genesis 15 six. It's quoted Enrollment's Chapter four. It's quoted in Galatians Chapter three.

[00:12:53] It's quoted in James chapter to this verse right here is preached by Paul. It's preached by James in the early church when they wanted to preach faith Genesis fifteen six was one of their go to tax and end.

[00:13:10] The point that it's making is before Abraham did any works, before he was circumcised as a symbol of being God's people. But it wasn't about what Abraham ended up doing. It was about the fact that he heard the word of the Lord and he believed he trusted in what God said and that moment where he transferred into his trust from himself and his own understanding, and he put his trust in God and then his word. At that moment, it was put into Abraham's account as righteous. He was justified. He was declared right with God solely on the basis of his faith and not based on what he did. Now, those passages are going to make clear the story of Abraham is going to make clear that he does many things because of his faith, but none of the things that he does save him. The thing that saves him is his faith and faith alone.

[00:14:09] OK. And this is so important that we talk about this here is a church, because we have some card carrying members of the tri hard club that go to this church. All right. And we may hear what God says in the word. Their entire life. Some people have been doing this for decades here at our church. Some people are new to the try hard game. But you can hear it, by the way, that they talk, they hearing God's word, a standard of how we are to live.

[00:14:41] And they're always trying to live up to that standard, always trying to be a good person, always trying to do what is right and always feeling like they can never quite get there. And that is not what the Bible is telling you to do.

[00:14:58] The Bible doesn't want you to try.

[00:15:00] The Bible wants you to trust in God what he says and what he has done through his son, Jesus Christ.

[00:15:07] And once you stop trying and you trust in Jesus, then you'll be able to do things and live a new life. But if you go straight to trying, you'll never get there. There are people in this room right now that all they have ever done is tried to do what God said.

[00:15:27] And Abraham, he didn't try to do what God said. He trusted what God said. And he was counted as righteous. Point number one, let's get it down like this. Faith is trusting in the word of God.

[00:15:43] Faith is trusting in the word of God.

[00:15:47] That's what it is. It stop. You stop trying to figure it out for yourself. Stop trying to have everything makes sense to you.

[00:15:54] Stop trying to do what is the good thing. Hey, it's about you saying I don't have the ability. I don't have the power to live up to the standard of God. It's not about me trying to get there. I'm going to trust in what God says and transfer my trust to the word of God. And at the moment that you put your trust in Jesus Christ, who is the word of God? Who is the expression of God to man? Who is the one mediator who did all of the work.

[00:16:25] Established a perfect track record of righteousness. Once you trust in Jesus rather than yourself at that moment. And it could happen here today while you're sitting in your seat. During this sermon, you could realize that you've been trying your whole life to do it yourself. And you could stop trying and you could start trusting in Jesus. And the moment that you believe in God, you transfer your trust to God. At that moment, it is counted to you as righteousness. Before you can even pray a prayer, before you can even walk an aisle. The moment you say I can't do it and I've got to believe what he says.

[00:17:01] You are declared right by God in heaven for eternity.

[00:17:05] That's what we need.

[00:17:08] And week after week, year after year, people walk out of these doors and they try harder and it gets them nowhere.

[00:17:17] Here's what try hard people do. They go and they try really hard. And then eventually they realize they can't live up to the standard.

[00:17:24] So they turn back to that same old saying they realize they can't live up to the standard. So they give up and they stop trying.

[00:17:32] Some try hard. People are so self deceived that they think they're actually pulling it off and they're puffed up with pride, thinking of themselves as a righteous person based on what they have done, not trusting in Jesus Christ.

[00:17:49] And this is a big problem.

[00:17:51] And I'm concerned that many people who who are who are sincere in their efforts to live for God, if they looked back at the story of their life, if they had their eyes open to see it. It's always been a story of them trying. Not them trusting and then living a new life.

[00:18:10] So you got to make sure you're not a card carrying member of the tri hard club here among us.

[00:18:15] Well, Abraham has many sons and they are sons and daughters of faith. They go to Romans four and let's look at one of the places. This passage has quoted and it's quoted here in Paul's masterpiece on the gospel message Enrollment's four. And we're gonna pick it up in verse 22. You could really start in verse nine. And if you go through our little Genesis book that we've got, there's a Genesis book and there's a there's a blah bookmark and you can pick those up on any table on the way out the schedule of the reading and questions to help you dove deeper into the reading. We're gonna look at Romans for Galatians three, James, to all the passages that quote Genesis 15 six. We'll be looking at it. All right. And look what it says here. And Romans, chapter four, verse 22, when it quotes it started quoting it all the way back in verse nine. So, really, all of Romans four is kind of an explanation, a commentary on Abraham and his faith in Genesis 15 six.

[00:19:19] And then it says, this is why that is why this is verse 22, Romans for twenty two, page nine hundred and forty two. That is why his faith was counted to him as righteousness.

[00:19:32] But the words it was counted to him were not written for his sake alone, but for hours also. It will be counted to us who believe in him, who raised from the dead Jesus, our Lord, who was delivered up for our trust passes and raised for our justification. Hey, the reason that it says it was counted to Abraham at righteousness, the moment that he heard the word of God and he believed in it.

[00:20:02] It wasn't just for Abraham that that was written. It was for you that that was written. That you would see it's about transferring your trust from anything that you're doing to trusting in Jesus. Who is he? He is the son of God.

[00:20:19] He is the Christ, the anointed one who came down here. He got the name Jesus when he was born because he came to be the savior. And he's been exalted to the highest name, above all names. He is the Lord with all authority over heaven and earth. What did you do? Well, it says he was delivered up. He was killed on the cross. And when he was paying the debt for all of our sin for our trespasses. And he was raised up for our justification. Jesus rose from the dead on the third day so that we could be made right with God in a real relationship. Justification means to be declared righteous by God. And it only takes one thing for you to be declared righteous by God. And that is faith. That's what Abraham is an example of.

[00:21:02] And it's written a story of Abraham is written for you so that you would see, wow, Abraham just heard it. He believed it. And that right there in that moment when he believed that's when he was declared righteous.

[00:21:17] You gotta understand that.

[00:21:21] I'm really concerned. It's a growing concern that I have that God is putting on my heart, that there are many people here at this church and when they hear the word of God preached, what they do is try harder.

[00:21:33] We're not asking anybody to try harder. We're saying trust in what Jesus has already perfectly done. That's the message we want to get.

[00:21:42] Let me just say that's not just a message for those who need to be saved. That's also the message for those of us who are saved.

[00:21:50] Let me just tell you, brother and sister, how many things how many good things are you going to do without it being by the power of Jesus Christ in your life? How many apart from me? Jesus says you can do what? That's what he says.

[00:22:04] It begins with hearing by faith. And even as we live for God every single day, as we do do good works for God as save people. The good works will only work when they come from hearing with faith, not us just trying to manufacture good works in our own strength.

[00:22:26] It has to be us responding to what God says by believing him in his word. Everything we do in the Christian life is by faith.

[00:22:40] And so you won't really do anything.

[00:22:44] Unless it begins with the foundation of faith. This is critical, this is. This is not only the first step of faith in salvation. It is a step that we never stopped taking as Christian people.

[00:22:58] The minute you think that you can go and do something, you're going to find yourself being a try hard and try and do something. And let me just tell you, you're not going to get there.

[00:23:07] But when you trust in what Jesus has done, he enables you by the power of his Holy Spirit, working in you to do all kinds of things and bare all kinds of fruit and give God all kinds of glory.

[00:23:19] And at the end of the day, you say, I did nothing. It was all Jesus in me because you're trusting in him.

[00:23:26] So we need to make sure that we understand what life really is by as Christians, it's by faith. Everybody.

[00:23:35] We're not saying, hey, let's go try harder. This week we're saying, let's get in the word. Let's hear what it says. Let's take let's take God at his word. Not just believe that it's true, but let's trust in it ourselves. That's a difference between last week and this week, last week, we said, hey, watch out, Satan's trying to twist the word evil. Not even quoting the word right back when she's quoting the word like, make sure you understand what the word is.

[00:24:01] We got to take God at his word. What we're saying now is, yeah, when you hear the word you need to trust in what God says, you need to believe that what God is saying, God will always do what he says. If God's telling you to do something, then that's a word that God can do through you. And you got to trust in the word of the Lord.

[00:24:20] That's what Abraham did. He believed what God said to him. And when he believed he was counted as righteous. In fact, go over later to Romans Chapter 10, a move over a little bit here. And this is the passage.

[00:24:34] Romans ten versus nine and 10. They describe that moment where someone transfers their trust to Jesus, that moment where they confess with their mouth that Jesus is Lord and they believe in their heart that God raised him from the dead. You will be saved. This is what the Bible says. Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. It begins with a childlike faith, a simple transfer of trust, not just believing that it's true or knowing the information, but really saying, okay, I'm done trying to figure it out myself.

[00:25:06] I'm done trying to do it myself. I'm trusting in Jesus. He's Lord. He rose from the dead. He died for my sins. He's the one who can give me eternal life when I trust in him. He paid for all of my sins and I receive his righteousness. That's what it's describing here.

[00:25:25] And then it says this. Look at verse 14. This is Romans 10, verse 14.

[00:25:29] How then will they call on him? And who may have not believed? And how are they to believe in him? Of who may have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? OK. So we need people to call on Jesus because they're believing in him. But they're not going to believe if they haven't heard and they're not going to hear without someone preaching. And how are they to preach unless they are sent as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news? But they have not all obeyed the gospel for Isaiah, says Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us.

[00:26:07] So here's here's here's something to write down. Here's here's the line we want to think about. Faith comes from what? Faith comes from hearing and hearing.

[00:26:17] From the word of who. Faye.

[00:26:24] CALM's from Heery.

[00:26:28] That's what we've got to see. Abraham heard the word of the Lord. And based on listening to God's word, it produced faith in Abraham.

[00:26:42] So I'm not asking anybody because Abraham is our example of faith this week. I'm not telling everybody, hey, you need to go out and flex your faith muscles this week, everybody.

[00:26:52] Hey, go out and muster up as much faith as you possibly can.

[00:26:57] I'm not asking anybody to do anything, but just hear the word of the Lord. And let this word produce faith in you. That's where it comes from, is when you trust in what God says, that he will do it. That he will do it with other people's lives. He'll do it in your life when you trust in what God says that produces faith in your life. If you feel like you're weak in faith, let me ask you. Are you strong and getting into the word? Because hearing it is what produces faith.

[00:27:33] So let's even apply this now to loved ones, to people that we know, and as we move through November and towards Christmas, we think about our loved ones and we think I wish they would believe that Jesus is the savior, that he was born to come and save us from our sins, that it's glory to God in the highest, that there's been born a savior who is Christ the Lord. I wish they believed with me about Jesus. Well, how is someone going to believe they have to. What?

[00:28:01] Here.

[00:28:03] So if somebody tells you they don't believe the immediate question that you and I should go to is, well, have they heard? Because of course, they don't believe if they haven't really heard the word of Christ, then how could they even believe? Because faith comes from hearing.

[00:28:21] So then I'm praying that I would have a chance to share with them the word of Christ, that somebody else, God would bring in another messenger to share with them the word of Christ, because the only way somebody is going to believe is through hearing.

[00:28:34] Now, it makes it clear here not everybody obeys the gospel. Some people hear it, but they don't really have the ears to hear. They don't really respond with faith. They hear the information. Maybe they disagree. Maybe they agree, but they don't really hear it in the way that produces faith. But that's where faith comes from, is hearing the word of Christ.

[00:28:55] And so is that why you think that I need to get into this book? I need to hear about it every single day, because as I'm hearing what God says, that's what's building up faith in me?

[00:29:08] Or are you just going out and being a try hard?

[00:29:12] We really got to think about this, and here's what's so crazy. The law, the first five books that we're starting to study this is week two of 20 weeks of our church going through the law. We've all heard that the law is a bunch of rules telling you what to do that you could never live up to. We've all heard the try hard statement about the law.

[00:29:34] But now, as we're actually reading through it, the first character that we really deep dove into and really get to know who this man is, the whole point of this man is not what he did, but that he trusted what God said. One of the first things the law is trying to tell you is it's not about what you do or keeping the rules. It's about your faith in God. And just by believing this man was counted as righteousness.

[00:30:03] I do. Do we understand that the law. Even the law itself is telling us to have faith.

[00:30:09] Not to try to keep a bunch of rules?

[00:30:13] So when I grew up, I heard so much about Father Abraham, and I love doing that song with all the emotions when I was a kid growing up, you know, the right arm, left arm, right foot, left foot. Turn around, sit down. Anybody else ever get dizzy like that? Going to church, growing up? I mean, I was confident that when we did that last one going around in a circle, I could do it faster than anybody else. I mean, I was going for the gold in the Abraham song, right? I mean, I grew up hearing about Abraham and I heard Christian people act in all the time like Abraham. The reason I love this guy is he's just like the rest of us. And he has these moments of faith. And then he has these real shortcomings, these real failures in sin. And I love how the Bible characters are real people that we can all relate to. And the impression that I got from hearing people at church talk about it is almost like one day or Abraham's this great example of faith.

[00:31:05] And the next day he's just some dupe doubting God and lying about his wife and listening to bad ideas from his wife to go and have a child with one of their servants.

[00:31:16] And he's falling in all these ways. And it was almost like he was like random. One day he obeys and one day falls into sin.

[00:31:23] And that's just how life is. And then I did something that was really radical. I started really reading the story of Abraham and I started really reading it, not like I knew at all.

[00:31:34] And I'd heard it all before. And I already knew what happened. But I read it like I was hungry and I was thirsty and I wanted to see why did sometimes this man have amazing faith to leave his country and his kindred and his father's house and do these things for God that seemed bold and adventurous that even the Bible says are great examples of faith? And then why is he sometimes lying in fear and trying to figure things out his own way? And I read through Genesis, as we're going to do this week, and I saw it was very clear. Abraham lived according to who he was listening to.

[00:32:07] It wasn't random. It wasn't like one day he obeyed, one day he fell into sin. It was like who was speaking to Abraham and who was he listening to? When God spoke to him and he heard from God, that's when he acted in ambitious faith.

[00:32:23] When other people gave him ideas or when he listened to his own thoughts, or when he was afraid of what other people would think. That's when he acted without faith.

[00:32:34] Faith comes from hearing the word of God.

[00:32:38] The word of Christ.

[00:32:40] I just got to ask you, in your life. It's not random whether you obey one day or whether you fall into sin the next day. Who do you listen to?

[00:32:48] If you're listening to Fox News, if you're listening to Facebook, you're not going to be inspired to live with ambitious faith. I'll tell you right now.

[00:32:56] If you listen to the word of God, the perfect law of the Lord that will revive your soul, you will become a person of faith. And I a man from anybody on this. Who are you listening to? What are you hearing?

[00:33:09] If you're hearing the word of the Lord, the word of Christ, it will inspire great faith in your life. If you're listening to what's going on, on your phone or the ideas that other people are thrown at you, you'll probably live a life of doubt and trying to figure things out for yourself or being afraid of other people.

[00:33:28] So pay attention as we're reading through. Don't act like we know the whole story. Let's go learn what it's trying to tell us, what it's teaching us, what it wants us to hear.

[00:33:39] And we need to hear this word, and that's what inspires faith.

[00:33:45] And so turn with me to Genesis 22. And let's see kind of the climax of this whole story.

[00:33:53] You know, the first the first step of faith that God tells Abraham to take is he's got to go from his country is kindred and his father's house. Then he's got a weight in that land for 25 years before his son is born.

[00:34:08] And then when he's a hundred and Sarah's 90, then they have the promised child. They're in the promised land. He will be the promised nation that will bring the promised blessing to all peoples of planet Earth.

[00:34:22] But then after Isaac is born, this happens in Genesis 22. This is page 16.

[00:34:31] Look at it with me. In verse one says after these things. So some time now has gone by. In fact, some people might say that Isaac isn't even just a boy here, that he might actually even be a young man by this age. But after these things got tested, Abraham and said to him, Abraham? And he said, Here I am. He said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.

[00:35:02] And go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place of which God had told him.

[00:35:27] Now, when I was growing up, one thing we would do at my house and we did this pretty much every day, this is one thing that my dad really made a point to do with our family is we would read the Bible together every single day. And and when I was a kid growing up, I had two younger brothers. We would read this book right here, the read and grow. Picture Bible and this Bible.

[00:35:48] It has 12 pictures for every story. And the pictures that are drawn in here, they look like real people. It's not like animation. It looks like real people. And they're trying to come straight from the Bible in their content. And so I remember when we would get to this page, God tests Abraham and I would see this picture of this 100 year old looking man with his son and he was going to go and sacrifice his son.

[00:36:14] And I can remember reading this story and how this story rubbed me the wrong way as a kid when my dad was reading it to me. Maybe you felt the same way about this story. Why would God ask Abraham? Why is God put this guy through it like this is what I thought? Why would he ask him to do something? Like I know from the other stories that my dad read me as we continue through the law and the prophets and the writings that you weren't supposed to sacrifice children. That's what the other nations were doing that they were getting judged for. That's why God was leading his people into the promised land to drive out both those nations because they were murdering children.

[00:36:56] That's wrong. That's messed up. Why in the world would God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son?

[00:37:05] It bothered me when I was growing up as a little boy whenever we got to this story. I was bothered about it.

[00:37:12] I was thinking, that ain't right. And look at how God says it there in verse two. He says, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love. I'm like, it's like he's rubbing it in right there.

[00:37:23] Right.

[00:37:24] You waited 25 years for this guy. You moved across the world for this kid. Now he's your son, your one and only son. You love this son.

[00:37:38] And now I want you to go kill it. Knoff room as a burnt offering.

[00:37:44] I can remember sitting there right next to my dad and he's reading a story and I'm feeling this little little boy try hard Ray growing up in my soul like this same right.

[00:37:55] Why are you making Abraham try so hard? God.

[00:37:58] I can remember what it was like. Maybe a lot of us can remember the first time that God blessed us with a child and maybe as a father or a mother, maybe you can still remember this very day, that first moment when you held your child in your arms for the first time and you saw their precious little body. You saw those little fingers, those little toes. Right.

[00:38:22] I remember hold my first child, a masculine child, to carry the Blakey name on to the next generation. Right. Remember the first thing I did with my son, I started preaching the gospel to him, calling for him to repent of his sins, put his faith in Jesus Christ. I was holding him there. Right. And I felt what I would imagine many, if not most, if not all the parents in this room have felt.

[00:38:46] I felt a kind of love, a kind of passion that I had for this kid. You know, nobody was taking this kid out of my hands. I mean, I'm going to die before I give anybody my one and only son.

[00:39:03] My guy loved this kid in a way like you didn't know you could love before you have a kid.

[00:39:12] And I'm thinking, wow, why would God ask Abraham to do this and then to see Abraham's response? He gets up, it says, early in the morning. Like, this guy is so locked into listening to God that God can tell him to do something that goes against everything, it seems like we've been building up to for years and right away first thing in the morning. He believes what God says. He does it right away, there's no there's no even like like rational objection. I mean, you could come up with some good reasons why that wouldn't be the thing to do.

[00:39:52] But he trusts in the word of God.

[00:39:56] And he starts rounding up what they're going to need, look at first for let's keep going through the story here between Abraham and his son, Isaac. And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw this place the God told him to go to. He saw the place from afar.

[00:40:14] And Abraham said, do his young men stay here with the donkey, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and he laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. The other guys, they stay with the donkey. Now, it's just this walk between father and son and Isaac, he's putting it together. Look at this intimate conversation here between a father and his son, verse seven. Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father.

[00:40:50] And he said, Here I am, my son. He said, behold the fire and the wood.

[00:40:57] But where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

[00:41:00] Hey, Dad. Just got to ask the obvious question. We don't have an animal to sacrifice Stad.

[00:41:09] Abraham said, look at this line, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went both of them together, and when they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there, he laid the wood in order, and he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

[00:41:37] And there's a picture in that in that Bible.

[00:41:41] Of this on this mountain of this 100 year old man raising up the knife and there's his boy lying there on the wood. And he's got this knife gleaming in the sunlight and he's getting ready to slaughter his one and only son, whom he loves because he trusts in the word of God. And it says verse eleven. 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 lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him. For now, I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and be old.

[00:42:23] Behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.

[00:42:28] And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place. The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day on the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided.

[00:42:46] What an example of faith that even when God told him to do something that would seem to go against everything, that would make sense. This man trusted in the word of the Lord.

[00:42:58] He passed the test of faith. But I got to tell you that as somebody who can think like a try hard myself, this kind of win against me, why did God put Abraham in this position? And one day I had this epiphany. I had this revelation and I saw this story for what it really is.

[00:43:18] And I realize that this isn't a story about God telling Abraham what Abraham has to do. This is a story of God telling all of us what he's going to do.

[00:43:32] This story works on a whole different level, in fact, the father and son that you and I should see walk in here is not Abraham and Isaac. No, this goes to one of the most famous verses of all time for God so loved the world that he gave. Is who?

[00:43:50] His one and only son. His son. Whom he loved.

[00:43:58] See, God's not asking Abraham to do anything that God's not going to do himself. See, God is the one who actually does give his one and only son.

[00:44:12] In fact, God is the one who actually does slaughter and kill his one and only son. And why does the father, who's had a perfect relationship with his son, Jesus, for all of eternity in heaven? Why does the father give his one and only son and kill him there on the cross? He does it. For who?

[00:44:35] For you. See, this is one of the great examples.

[00:44:42] Of how God is telling us in the law what Jesus is going to fulfill.

[00:44:49] That there will be a father who will sacrifice his one and only son, whom he loves as a sacrifice. And let me just take you all the way down until all the levels deep of how this works. But it says God specifically tells Abraham to go to the land of Mariah, to go to this mountain, of which I shall tell you, go to Mount Moriah. Do you know where Mount Mariah is? Do you know where God is telling him to go? If you're taking notes, you want to write down a note about Mariah. And from Second Chronicles, chapter three, verse one. It makes it very clear that on Mount Mariah is where King Solomon builds the Temple of the Lord.

[00:45:38] In fact, I have personally been to Mount Moriah.

[00:45:41] I got to go there again this last summer. I got to go to the city that is on a hill, the city that has been built up there on Mount Moriah. The city of Jerusalem. And I got to walk on the ancient streets and step on these stones that have been there for generations. The same streets and stones that Jesus Christ himself walked on when he was taken outside of the town there on that mount.

[00:46:08] And he was nailed up to the tree by his hands and his feet, and he sacrificed his body and he and his blood there was shed and falling to the ground. And the father heard his son say, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[00:46:24] Because on this mount, Mariah is where the father killed his one and only son to save your soul from your sin.

[00:46:34] No, this isn't a story about Abraham and Isaac. This is God telling you what he's going to need you do thousands of years later on this exact spot. Why does God tell Abraham to go there? Because that's the place where God is going to sacrifice his son.

[00:46:50] That's the place where they're going to build the temple and they're going to offer all of these animal sacrifices day after day, year after year, and it's all building up the whole sacrifice. And the whole story of the Bible is building up to when there will be a one and only son who's perfectly loved but out of perfect love is sacrifice for us. If you ever are tempted to doubt the love of God or to question whether he's really going to be good to you, he's did what no other dad would want to do. He gave his one and only son for you.

[00:47:25] That's what he's talking about here.

[00:47:27] This is God and cruel Dask Abraham, to do something that nobody should have to do. This is God letting you know what he did with his son Jesus. Now, look at verse four where it says On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Now, I just want you to start paying attention to every time the Bible makes a point to let us know that it happened on the third day. God tells Abraham to go to a place where he's going to kill his one and only son, Jesus.

[00:48:01] And God tells Abraham to go there when it's going to take him three days to get there. Now, can I prove to you that this is a clear reference to Jesus rising from the dead on the third day?

[00:48:12] No, I can't prove that. This one reference to the third day is a reference to Jesus rising on the third day. But if you start keeping track, as we read through the law, the prophets and the writings, you just keep track of every time. The third day is mentioned or you go do a study of all the third day references that are used in the scripture building up to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you will see clearly the scripture is trying to tell us something about the third day.

[00:48:41] In fact, you should write down Hebrews 11, 17 to 19 says that as Abraham was by faith, going to Mount Moriah and getting ready to offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice, that Abraham believed that God was even able to raise his son from the dead. That's what it tells us. And Hebrews, 11, 17 to 19. Abraham was thinking for three days as he's traveling to this mountain, that even if God is telling him to kill his son, God is able to raise his son from the dead. That's the kind of faith that Abraham has to believe in a resurrection, power of God before God, whatever, raise his son.

[00:49:24] Abraham believed that God was able to raise up his son Luke with Abraham says in verse aid and see how prophetic this would prove to be. God will provide for himself the lamb for a burn offering my son. Abraham had this confidence in Jehova, GIRoA, that guy would be the provider. And he he said that he believed God would provide a lamb. Now, when Abraham looks after the angel speaks to him. What kind of animal does does Abraham see caught up in the thicket? They're not a lamb, but a ram. So Abraham statement about God providing a lamb for a sacrifice is still hanging in the air for thousands of years until Jesus Christ comes back to that same spot. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he said, Behold the lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world in heaven, the Saints and the Angels are praising Jesus, saying Worthy is the lancie you. And if you don't identify Jesus as a lamb, if you don't see that this whole story is going to build up to God providing a lamb.

[00:50:34] Here it is through the mouth of Abraham. God is revealing his future plan. And look what Abraham calls the place in verse 14, Mount Moriah. He gives it a name the Lord will provide which would come down. This place was known as Jehovah GIRoA. This place was known as the place that the Lord will make it seem. This is Hebrew word here where it's often translated. Provide is also the Hebrew word to see or to make clear to make visible. So when it says that on the Mount of the Lord, it shall be provided are on the Mount of the Lord, it shall be seen or made clear on Mount Moriah. Everything will be seen.

[00:51:17] Moses is saying that's what we call it to this day, not just in Abraham Day, but now many, many generations later, they still know Mount Mariah that that's the mount where the Lord will make it clear.

[00:51:33] That's where the Lord will make a scene, where the Lord will provide. They know there's something special about what God is going to do in this place.

[00:51:45] If you've never seen Genesis 22 for what it really is, not just a test of Abraham's faith, but a bit a picture from God to us of how he is going to give his one and only son. For your. So I hope that today your eyes are open to see wondrous things from the law. And if you already know this, how much confidence should you and I have that if God gave us his one and only son whom he loves, how will he not also graciously give us all things? Point number to see the son who is the sacrifice? See the son. Who is the sacrifice?

[00:52:23] It's not Isaac. It's Jesus Christ.

[00:52:27] Offered by the father who loved his son with a perfect love, but he was willing to sacrifice his one and only son to pay for our sins.

[00:52:40] And to save our souls, that's why right now and ask the ushers if they'll get communion ready for us. And we're going to remember the death of our Lord Jesus Christ from Genesis 22 is going to inspire us to take communion and ask the worship team to come up here and they're going to sing for us.

[00:52:56] Behold the father's love. How deep the father's love for us so vast beyond all measure that he would give his one and only son and make a wretch. His treasure. That's what's happening here on Mount Moriah on the third day, on the on the place where God's going to provide the land, the place where it built will be made clear.

[00:53:21] And you see how right there, Genesis 22. It gives us this picture. You could read this story two different ways.

[00:53:28] You could just take it on a human level of what Abraham was asked to do by God and how he passed the test of faith and how hard it must have been for Abraham to try to do this. Or you could see it from God showing us what he's going to do and how he's providing everything through the sacrifice of his son, Jesus. And I'm just here to ask you today, how do you see the Bible?

[00:53:52] Do you see the Bible as things that you have to try to go do? Or do you see the Bible as God revealing to you what he has done through his son, Jesus Christ?

[00:54:04] And that when you trust in Jesus, you are declared righteous because Jesus Christ has already paid for all of our sins. He paid it in full. It is finished. The work is done.

[00:54:18] It was sacrificed on Mount Moriah 2000 years ago.

[00:54:24] And so we trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ. And so we want to remember the Lord's death until he comes home and asks the ushers to come forward. They're going to give everybody a little bit of bread to remember the body of our lord cop, to remember the blood of our Lord.

[00:54:38] Hold those elements will take them all together after this song. Let me pray for us.

[00:54:44] Father in Heaven. We just want to step back right now. In all of this picture that you have given us.

[00:54:54] How you appeal to what we all understand, the love of a father for his one and only son.

[00:55:01] And God, how you have shown that that is the love. That you had for your son, Jesus, when you judged him for our sin on the cross? God, I pray that you would open our eyes from Genesis 20 to.

[00:55:16] To see what it must have been like for you to give your one and only son and what it must have been like for Jesus to cry out. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

[00:55:26] And that you would take all of the judgment that we deserved for our sin, all of the wrath that has been stored up because of things that we have said and thought and done, and that you would pour that out on Jesus Christ.

[00:55:41] He would be the sacrifice that takes away our sin and that just by believing in your word, just by trusting what you say, believing in this gospel, this good news of Jesus. That we would be given righteousness.

[00:55:58] For all of eternity, GAO, we praise you for the land that you provide. We pray that you would open our eyes to see how glorious this story really is.

[00:56:10] And we would behold the love with which you have loved us and we would hear your word and half face. Let this be a meaningful time for all of us who believe in Jesus Christ to remember his sacrifice.

[00:56:24] We pray this in his name.