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25 - Commentary on The Book of Genesis · Philosophy and Faith

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Speaker 1: Chapter twenty two. We have here the famous story of
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Speaker 1: Abraham's offering up his son Isaac, that is, his offering
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Speaker 1: to offer him, which is justly looked upon as one
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Speaker 1: of the wonders of the church. Here is numeral one
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Speaker 1: the strange command which God gave to Abraham concerning it
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Speaker 1: Verses one and two, Numeral two. Abraham's strange obedience to
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Speaker 1: this command Verses three through ten, Numeral three. The strange
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Speaker 1: issue of this trial number one. The sacrifice of Isaac
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Speaker 1: was countermanded Verses eleven and twelve. Number two. Another sacrifice
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Speaker 1: was provided verses thirteen and fourteen Number three. The covenant
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Speaker 1: was renewed with Abraham hereupon Verses fifteen to nineteen. Lastly,
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Speaker 1: an account of some of Abraham's relations Verses twenty and
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Speaker 1: so on. Abraham commanded to offer Isaac b. C. Eighteen
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Speaker 1: seventy two. And it came to pass after these things
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Speaker 1: that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham,
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Speaker 1: and he said, behold here I am, And he said,
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Speaker 1: take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest,
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Speaker 1: and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer
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Speaker 1: him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains,
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Speaker 1: which I will tell thee of. Here is the trial
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Speaker 1: of Abraham's faith, whether it continued so strong, so vigorous,
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Speaker 1: so victorious, after a long settlement in communion with God,
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Speaker 1: as it was at first when by it he left
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Speaker 1: his country. Then it was made to appear that he
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Speaker 1: loved God better than his father, now that he loved
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Speaker 1: him better than his son. Observe here numeral one the
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Speaker 1: time when Abraham was thus tried first one after these things,
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Speaker 1: after all the other exercises he had had, all the
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Speaker 1: hardships and difficulties he had gone through. Now perhaps he
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Speaker 1: was beginning to think the storms had all blown over.
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Speaker 1: But after all this encounter comes, which is sharper than
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Speaker 1: any Yet. Note many former trials will not supersede nor
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Speaker 1: secure us from the further trials. We have not yet
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Speaker 1: put off the harness. First Kings twenty verse eleven. See
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Speaker 1: Psalm thirty, verses six and seven, Numeral two. The author
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Speaker 1: of the trial, God tempted him not to draw him
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Speaker 1: to sin, so Satan tempts. If Abraham had sacrificed Isaac,
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Speaker 1: he would not have sinned. His orders would have justified him.
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Speaker 1: And worn him out, but to discover his graces, how
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Speaker 1: strong they were, that they might be found to praise
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Speaker 1: and honor and glory one Peter one seven. Thus God
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Speaker 1: tempted Job that he might appear not only a good man,
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Speaker 1: but a great man. God did tempt Abraham. He did
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Speaker 1: lift up Abraham. So some read it as a scholar
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Speaker 1: that improves well is lifted up when he is put
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Speaker 1: into a higher form. Note strong faith is often exercised
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Speaker 1: with strong trials and put upon hard services Numeral three.
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Speaker 1: The trial itself, God appeared to him, as he had
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Speaker 1: formerly done, called him by name Abraham, that name which
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Speaker 1: had been given him in ratification of the promise. Abraham,
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Speaker 1: like a good servant, readily answered, here am I what
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Speaker 1: says my Lord? Unto his servant, probably he expected some
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Speaker 1: renewed promise like those Chapter fifteen, verse one and Chapter seventeen,
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Speaker 1: verse one. But to his great amazement, that which God
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Speaker 1: has to say to him is, in short, Abraham, go
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Speaker 1: kill thy son. And this command is given him in
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Speaker 1: such aggravating language as makes the temptation abundantly more grievous.
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Speaker 1: When God speaks Abraham, no doubt takes notice of every
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Speaker 1: word and listens attentively to it. And every word here
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Speaker 1: is a sword in his bones. The trial is stealed
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Speaker 1: with trying phrases. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty
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Speaker 1: that he should afflict No, it is not. Yet. When
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Speaker 1: Abraham's faith is to be tried, God seems to take
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Speaker 1: pleasure in the aggravation of the trial. Verse two. Observe
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Speaker 1: number one the person to be offered. Subscript one, take
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Speaker 1: thy son, not thy bullocks and thy lambs. How willingly
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Speaker 1: would Abraham have parted with them by thousands to redeem Isaac? No,
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Speaker 1: I will take make new bullock out of thy house
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Speaker 1: Psalm fifty, Verse nine. I must have thy son, not
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Speaker 1: thy servant. No, not the steward of thy house, that
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Speaker 1: shall not serve the turn. I must have thy son. Jeptha,
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Speaker 1: in pursuance of a vow offered a daughter. But Abraham
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Speaker 1: must offer his son, in whom the family was to
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Speaker 1: be built up. Lord, let it be an adopted son. No.
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Speaker 1: Subscript two thy only son, thy only son by Sarah
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Speaker 1: Ishmail was lately cast out to the grief of Abraham.
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Speaker 1: And now Isaac only was left, and must he go too?
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Speaker 1: Subscript two thy only son thy only son by Sarah.
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Speaker 1: Ishmael was lately cast out to the grief of Abraham,
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Speaker 1: and now Isaac only was left, and must he go too? Yes,
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Speaker 1: Subscript three, take Isaac him by name, thy laughter, that son. Indeed,
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Speaker 1: Chapter seventeen, verse nineteen. Not send for Ishmael back and
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Speaker 1: offer him. No, it must be Isaac. But Lord, I
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Speaker 1: love Isaac. He is to me is my own soul.
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Speaker 1: Ishmael is not. And wilt thou take Isaac? Also? All
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Speaker 1: this is against me? Yea. Subscript four, that son whom
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Speaker 1: thou lovest it was a trial of Abraham's love to God,
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Speaker 1: and therefore it must be in a beloved son, And
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Speaker 1: that string must be touched most upon. In the Hebrew
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Speaker 1: it is expressed more emphatically, and I think might very
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Speaker 1: well be read. Thus, take now that son of thine,
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Speaker 1: that only one of thine whom thou lovest, that Isaac.
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Speaker 1: God's command must overrule all these considerations. Number two the
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Speaker 1: place in the land of Mariah three days journey off,
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Speaker 1: so that he might have time to consider, And if
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Speaker 1: he did it, must do it deliberately, that it might
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Speaker 1: be a service the more reasonable and the more honorable.
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Speaker 1: Number three, the manner offer him for a burnt offering.
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Speaker 1: He must not only kill his son, but kill him
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Speaker 1: as a sacrifice, Kill him devoutly, kill him by rule,
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Speaker 1: kill him with all that pomp and ceremony, with all
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Speaker 1: that sedateness and composure of mind with which he used
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Speaker 1: to offer his burnt offerings. Abraham's obedience BC. Eighteen seventy two.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled
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Speaker 1: his ass, and took two of his young men with him,
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Speaker 1: and Isaac's son, and claved the wood for the burnt offering,
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Speaker 1: and rose up and went onto the place of which
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Speaker 1: God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham
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Speaker 1: lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham said, unto his young men, abide he here
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Speaker 1: with the ass, and I and the lad will go
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Speaker 1: yonder and worship and come again to you. And Abraham
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Speaker 1: took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it
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Speaker 1: upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in
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Speaker 1: his hand and a knife, and they went, both of
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Speaker 1: them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said,
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Speaker 1: my father. And he said, here am I my son.
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Speaker 1: And he said, behold the fire in the wood, But
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Speaker 1: where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said,
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Speaker 1: my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
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Speaker 1: burnt offering. So they went, both of them together, and
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Speaker 1: they came to the place which God had told him of.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood
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Speaker 1: in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him
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Speaker 1: on the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth
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Speaker 1: his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
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Speaker 1: We have here Abraham's obedience to this severe command being tried.
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Speaker 1: He offered up Isaac Hebrews eleven seventeen. Observe Numeral one
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Speaker 1: the difficulties which he broke through in this act of obedience.
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Speaker 1: Much might have been objected against it, as Number one,
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Speaker 1: it seemed directly against an antecedent law of God which
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Speaker 1: prevents murder under a severe penalty Chapter nine, Verses five
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Speaker 1: and six. Now can the unchangeable God contradict himself he
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Speaker 1: hates robbery for burnt offering Isaiah sixty one, verse eight,
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Speaker 1: cannot delight in murder for it? Number two, how would
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Speaker 1: it consist with natural affection to his own son? It
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Speaker 1: would be not only murder, but the worst of murders.
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Speaker 1: Cannot Abraham be obedient, but must he be unnatural? If
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Speaker 1: God insists upon a human sacrifice, is there none but
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Speaker 1: Isaac to be the offering, and none but Abraham to
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Speaker 1: be the offerer? Must the father of a faithful be
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Speaker 1: the monster of all fathers? Number three. God gave him
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Speaker 1: no reason for it. When Ishmael was to be cast out,
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Speaker 1: a just cause was as signed, which satisfied Abraham. But
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Speaker 1: here Isaac must die, and Abraham must kill him, And
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Speaker 1: neither the one nor the other must know why or wherefore.
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Speaker 1: If Isaac had been to die a martyr for the truth,
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Speaker 1: or his life had been the ransom of some other
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Speaker 1: life more precious, it would have been another matter. Or
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Speaker 1: if he had died as a criminal, a rebel against
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Speaker 1: God or his parents, as in the case of the
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Speaker 1: idolater Deuteronomy thirteen, verses eight and nine, or the stubborn
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Speaker 1: son Deuteronomy twenty one, verses eighteen and nineteen, it might
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Speaker 1: have passed as a sacrifice to justice. But the case
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Speaker 1: is not so. He is dutiful, obedient, hopeful son Lord.
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Speaker 1: What profit is there in his blood? Number four? How
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Speaker 1: would this consist with a promise. Was it not said
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Speaker 1: that in Isaac shall thy seed be called? But what
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Speaker 1: comes of that seed? If this pregnant mud be broken
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Speaker 1: off so soon? Number five, how should he ever look
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Speaker 1: Sarah in the face again? With what face? Can he
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Speaker 1: return to her and his family with the blood of
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Speaker 1: Isaac sprinkled on his garments and staining all his raiment?
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Speaker 1: Surely a bloody husband? Has thou been to me? Would
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Speaker 1: Sarah say, as Exodus four, verses twenty five and twenty six,
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Speaker 1: And it would be likely to alienate her affections forever,
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Speaker 1: both from him and from his God. Number six, What
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Speaker 1: would the Egyptians say, and the Canaanites and the Perizites
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Speaker 1: who dwelt men in the land. It would be an
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Speaker 1: eternal reproach to Abraham and to his altars. Welcome nature,
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Speaker 1: if this be grace? These and many similar objections might
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Speaker 1: have been made, but he was infallibly assured that it
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Speaker 1: was indeed a command of God and not a delusion.
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Speaker 1: This was sufficient to answer them all. Note God's commands
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Speaker 1: must not be disputed, but obeyed. We must not consult
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Speaker 1: with flesh and blood about them. Galatians one, verses fifteen
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Speaker 1: and sixteen. But with a gracious obstinacy persists in our
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Speaker 1: obedience to them Numeral two. The several steps of obedience,
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Speaker 1: all which helped to magnify it and to show that
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Speaker 1: he was guided by prudence and governed by faith in
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Speaker 1: the whole transaction. Number one he rises early verse three.
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Speaker 1: Probably the command was given in the visions of the night,
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Speaker 1: and early the next morning he set himself about the
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Speaker 1: execution of it, did not delay, did not demur, did
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Speaker 1: not take time to deliberate, for the command was peremptory
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Speaker 1: and would not admit a debate. Note those that do
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Speaker 1: the will of God hardly will do it speedily. While
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Speaker 1: we delay, time is lost and the heart hardened. Number two.
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Speaker 1: He gets things ready for a sacrifice, and as if
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Speaker 1: he himself had been a gibbeannight, it should seem with
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Speaker 1: his own hands. He cleaves the wood for the burnt,
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Speaker 1: offering that it might not be to seek when the
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Speaker 1: sacrifice was to be offered. Spiritual sacrifices must thus be
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Speaker 1: prepared for Number three. It is very probable that he
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Speaker 1: said nothing about it to Sarah. This is a journey
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Speaker 1: which she must know nothing of, lest she prevented. There
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Speaker 1: is so much in our own hearts to hinder our
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Speaker 1: progress and duty that we have need as much as
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Speaker 1: may be, to keep out of the way of other hindrances.
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Speaker 1: Number four, He carefully looked about him to discover the
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Speaker 1: place appointed for the sacrifice to which God had promised
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Speaker 1: by some sign to direct him. Probably the direction was
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Speaker 1: given by an appearance of the divine glory in the place,
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Speaker 1: some pillar of fire reaching from heaven to Earth, visible
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Speaker 1: at a distance, and to which he pointed when he
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Speaker 1: said verse five, we will go yonder where you see
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Speaker 1: the light and worship. Number five. He left his servants
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Speaker 1: at some distance off verse five, lest they should interpose
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Speaker 1: and create him some disturbance in his strange oblation. For
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Speaker 1: Isaac was no doubt the darling of the whole family. Thus,
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Speaker 1: when Christ was entered upon his agony in the garden,
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Speaker 1: he took only three of his disciples with him, and
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Speaker 1: left the rest at the garden door. Note. It is
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Speaker 1: our wisdom and duty, when we are going to worship God,
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Speaker 1: to lay aside all those thoughts and cares which may
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Speaker 1: divert us from the service, leave them at the bottom
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Speaker 1: of the hill, that we may attend on the Lord
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Speaker 1: without distraction. Number six, He obliged Isaac to carry the
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Speaker 1: wood both to try his obedience in a smaller matter, first,
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Speaker 1: that he might typify Christ, who carried his own cross,
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Speaker 1: John nineteen, verse seventeen, while he himself, though he knew
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Speaker 1: what he did, with a steady and undatted resolution, carried
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Speaker 1: the fatal knife in fire. Verse six. Note, those that
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Speaker 1: through grace are resolved upon the substance of any service
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Speaker 1: or suffering for God must overlook the little circumstances which
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Speaker 1: make it doubly difficult to flesh and blood Number seven
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Speaker 1: without any ruffle or disorder. He talks it over with
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Speaker 1: Isaac as if it had been but a common sacrifice
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Speaker 1: that he was going to offer Verses seven and eight.
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Speaker 1: Some point one. It was a very affecting question that
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Speaker 1: Isaac asked him, as they were going together. My father
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Speaker 1: said Isaac. It was a melting word which one would
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Speaker 1: think would strike deeper into the breast of Abraham than
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Speaker 1: his knife could into the breast of Isaac. He might
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Speaker 1: have said, or thought, at least call me not thy father,
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Speaker 1: who am now to be thy murderer? Can a father
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Speaker 1: be so barbarous, so perfectly lost to all the tenderness
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Speaker 1: of a father. Yet he keeps his temper and keep
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Speaker 1: his countenance to admiration. He calmly waits for his son's question.
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Speaker 1: And this is it. Behold the fire and the wood,
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Speaker 1: But where is the lamb? See how expert Isaac was
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Speaker 1: in the law and custom of sacrifices. This it is
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Speaker 1: to be well catechized. Subscript one a trying question to Abraham.
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Speaker 1: How could he endure to think that Isaac was himself
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Speaker 1: the lamb? So it is, but Abraham as yet dares
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Speaker 1: not tell him. So. Where God knows the faith to
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Speaker 1: be armor of proof, he will laugh at the trial
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Speaker 1: of the innocent job nine twenty three. Subscript two is
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Speaker 1: a teaching question to us all that when we are
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Speaker 1: going to worship God, we should seriously consider whether we
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Speaker 1: have everything ready, especially the lamb for a burnt offering. Behold,
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Speaker 1: the fire is ready, the spirit's assistance and God's acceptance.
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Speaker 1: The wood is ready. The instituted ordinances designed to kindle
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Speaker 1: our affections, which, indeed without the spirit, are but like
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Speaker 1: wood without fire. But the Spirit works by them. All
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Speaker 1: things are now ready. But where is the lamb? Where
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Speaker 1: is the heart is that ready to be offered up
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Speaker 1: to God to ascend to him as a burnt offering.
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Speaker 1: Subscript two, It was a very prudent answer which Abraham
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Speaker 1: gave him, my son, God will provide himself a lamb.
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Speaker 1: This was the language. Either sub point one of his obedience.
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Speaker 1: We must offer the lamb which God is appointed now
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Speaker 1: to be offered, thus giving him this general rule of
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Speaker 1: submission to the divine will to prepare him for the
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Speaker 1: application of it to himself very quickly, or sub point
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Speaker 1: two of his faith. Whether he meant it so or not,
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Speaker 1: this proved to be the meaning of it. A sacrifice
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Speaker 1: was provided instead of Isaac. Thus, first Christ, the great
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Speaker 1: sacrifice of atonement was God's providing. When none in heaven
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Speaker 1: or Earth could have found a lamb for that burnt offering,
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Speaker 1: God himself found the ransom Psalm eighty nine, verse twenty. Secondly,
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Speaker 1: all our sacrifices of acknowledgment are God's providing. Two. It
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Speaker 1: is he that prepares the heart Psalm ten, verse seventeen.
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Speaker 1: The broken and contride spirit is a sacrifice of God
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Speaker 1: Psalm fifty one, verse seventeen. Of his providing number eight
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Speaker 1: with this same resolution and composedness of mind, after many
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Speaker 1: thoughts of heart, he applies himself to the completing of
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Speaker 1: the sacrifice Verses nine and ten. He goes on with
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Speaker 1: a holy wilfulness, after many a weary step, and with
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Speaker 1: a heavy heart, he arrives at length at the fatal place,
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Speaker 1: builds the altar, an altar of earth, we may suppose,
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Speaker 1: the saddest that he ever built, and he had built
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Speaker 1: many A One lays the wood in order for his
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Speaker 1: Isaac's funeral pile, and now tells him the amazing news, Isaac,
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Speaker 1: thou art the lamb which God has provided. Isaac for
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Speaker 1: aught that appears is as willing as Abraham. We do
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Speaker 1: not find that he raised any objection against it, that
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Speaker 1: he petitioned for his life, that he attempted to make
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Speaker 1: his escape, much less that he struggled with his aged father,
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Speaker 1: or made any resistance. Abraham does it, God will have
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Speaker 1: it done, And Isaac has learnt to submit to both Abraham,
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Speaker 1: no doubt, comforting him with the same hopes with which
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Speaker 1: he himself, by faith was comforted. Yet it is necessary
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Speaker 1: that a sacrifice be bound, the great sacrifice which in
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Speaker 1: the folds of time was to be offered up must
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Speaker 1: be bound, and therefore so must Isaac. But with what
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Speaker 1: heart could tender Abraham tie those guiltless hands which perhaps
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Speaker 1: had often been lifted up to ask his blessing and
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Speaker 1: stretched out to embrace him, and were now the more
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Speaker 1: straightly bound with the cords of love and duty. However
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Speaker 1: it must be done. Having bound him, he lays him
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Speaker 1: upon the altar and his hand upon the head of
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Speaker 1: his sacrifice. And now we may suppose, with floods of tears,
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Speaker 1: he gives and takes the final farewell of a parting kiss.
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Speaker 1: Perhaps he takes another for Sarah from her dying son.
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Speaker 1: This being done, he resolutely forgets the bowels of a
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Speaker 1: father and puts on the awful gravity of a sacrificer.
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Speaker 1: With fixed heart and an eye lifted up to heaven.
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Speaker 1: He takes the knife and stretches out his hand to
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Speaker 1: give a fatal cut to Isaac's throat. Be astonished, O
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Speaker 1: Heavens at this, and wonder O Earth. Here is an
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Speaker 1: act of faith and obedience which deserves to be a
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Speaker 1: spectacle to God, angels and men. Abraham's darling, Sarah's laughter,
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Speaker 1: the Church's hope, the air of promise lies ready to
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Speaker 1: bleed and die by his own Father's hand, who never
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Speaker 1: shrinks at the doing of it. Now, this obedience of
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Speaker 1: Abraham in offering up Isaac is a lively representation subscript
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Speaker 1: one of the love of God to us. In delivering
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Speaker 1: up his only begotten son to suffer and die for
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Speaker 1: us as a sacrifice, it pleased the Lord to bruise him.
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Speaker 1: See Isaiah fifty three, verse ten, Zachari thirteen, verse seven.
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Speaker 1: Abraham was obliged both in duty and gratitude to part
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Speaker 1: with Isaac, and parted with him to a friend. But
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Speaker 1: God was under no obligations to us, for we were
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Speaker 1: enemies some point two of our duty to God in
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Speaker 1: return for that love, we must tread in the steps
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Speaker 1: of this faith of Abraham. God by his word calls
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Speaker 1: us to part with all for Christ, all our sins,
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Speaker 1: though they have been as a right hand or right eye,
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Speaker 1: or in Isaac, all those things that our competitors and
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Speaker 1: rivals with Christ, for the sovereignty of the heart Looke fourteen,
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Speaker 1: verse twenty six. And we must cheerfully let them all go. God,
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Speaker 1: by his providence, which is truly the voice of God,
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Speaker 1: calls us to part with an Isaac. Sometimes and we
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Speaker 1: must do it with a cheerful resignation and submission to
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Speaker 1: His holy will. First Samuel three, verse eighteen. Isaac rescued
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Speaker 1: b c. Eighteen seventy two. And the Angel of the
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Speaker 1: Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said Abraham, Abraham,
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Speaker 1: And he said, here, my and he said, lay not
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Speaker 1: thine hand upon the lad neither do thou anything unto him.
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Speaker 1: For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou
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Speaker 1: hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold
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Speaker 1: behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him
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Speaker 1: up for a bert offering in this dead of his son.
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Speaker 1: And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jirah.
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Speaker 1: As it is said to this day, in the mount
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Speaker 1: of the Lord, it shall be seen. Hitherto this story
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Speaker 1: has been very melancholy and seemed to hasten towards a
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Speaker 1: most tragical period. But here the sky suddenly clears up,
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Speaker 1: the sun breaks out, and a bright and pleasant scene opens.
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Speaker 1: The same hand that had wounded and casts down here
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Speaker 1: heals and lifts up, for though he caused grief, he
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Speaker 1: will have compassion. The Angel of the Lord, that is
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Speaker 1: God himself, the eternal Word, the Angel of the Covenant,
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Speaker 1: who was to be the great redeemer and comforter, He
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Speaker 1: interposed and gave a happy issue to this trial. Numer one.
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Speaker 1: Isaac is rescued Verses eleven and twelve. The command to
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Speaker 1: offer him was intended only for trial, and it appeared
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Speaker 1: upon trial that Abraham did indeed love God better than
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Speaker 1: he loved Isaac. The end of the command was answered,
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Speaker 1: and therefore the order is countermanded without any reflection at
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Speaker 1: all upon the unchangeableness of the divine cod councils, lay
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Speaker 1: not thy hand upon the lad note Number one. Our
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Speaker 1: creature comforts are most likely to be continued to us
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Speaker 1: when we are most willing to resign them up to
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Speaker 1: God's will. Number two. God's time to help and relieve
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Speaker 1: his people is when they are brought to the greatest extremity.
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Speaker 1: The more eminent the danger is, and the nearer to
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Speaker 1: be put into execution, the more wonderful and the more
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Speaker 1: welcome is the deliverance. Numeral two. Abraham is not only approved,
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Speaker 1: but applauded. He obtains an honorable testimony that he is righteous.
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Speaker 1: Now I know that Thou Fearest God, God knew it before,
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Speaker 1: But now Abraham had given a most memorable evidence of it,
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Speaker 1: he needed to do no more. What he had done
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Speaker 1: was sufficient to prove the religious regard he had to
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Speaker 1: God and his authority. Note Number one. When God, by
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Speaker 1: his providence, hinders the performance of our sincere intentions in
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Speaker 1: his services, he graciously accepts the will for the deed
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Speaker 1: and the honest endeavor, though it comes short of finishing.
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Speaker 1: Number two. The best evidence of our fearing God is
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Speaker 1: our being willing to serve and honor Him with that
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Speaker 1: which is dearest to us, and to part with all
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Speaker 1: to him or for him. Numeral three. Another sacrifice is
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Speaker 1: provided instead of Isaac Verse thirteen. Now that the altar
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Speaker 1: was built and the wood lad in order, it was
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Speaker 1: necessary that something should be offered for Number one, God
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Speaker 1: must be acknowledged with thankfulness for deliverance of Isaac, and
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Speaker 1: the sooner the better, when here is an altar ready.
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Speaker 1: Number two, Abraham's words must be made good. God will
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Speaker 1: provide himself a lamb. God will not disappoint those expectations
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Speaker 1: of his people, which are of his own raising. But
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Speaker 1: according to their faith it is to them thou shalt
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Speaker 1: decree a thing, and it shall be a stay ablished.
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Speaker 1: Number three. Reference must be had to the promised Messiah,
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Speaker 1: the Blessed Seed sub Point one. Christ was sacrificed in
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Speaker 1: our stead as this Ram instead of Isaac, and his
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Speaker 1: death was our discharge. Here I am said, he let
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Speaker 1: these go their way sub Point two. Though that blessed
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Speaker 1: Seed was lately promised and now typified by Isaac, yet
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Speaker 1: the offering up of him should be suspended till the
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Speaker 1: latter end of the world. And in the meantime, the
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Speaker 1: sacrifice of beasts should be accepted, as this Ram was,
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Speaker 1: as a pledge of that expiation which should one day
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Speaker 1: be made by that great sacrifice. And it is observable
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Speaker 1: that the temple, the place of sacrifice, was afterwards built
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Speaker 1: upon this Mount Moriah second Chronicles three, Verse one, and
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Speaker 1: Mount Calvary, where Christ was crucified, was not far off
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Speaker 1: Numeral four. A new name is given to the place,
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Speaker 1: to the honor of God, and for the encouragement of
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Speaker 1: all believers to the end of the world cheerfully to
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Speaker 1: trust in God. The way of obedience Jehovah Chyrah. The
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Speaker 1: Lord will provide verse fourteen, probably alluding to what he
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Speaker 1: had said first. Eight. God will provide himself a lamb.
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Speaker 1: It was not owing to any contrivance of Abraham, nor
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Speaker 1: was it in answer to his prayer, though he was
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Speaker 1: a distinguished intercessor. But it was purely the Lord's doing.
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Speaker 1: Let it be recorded for the generations to come. Number One,
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Speaker 1: that the Lord will see, he will always have his
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Speaker 1: eye upon his people in their straits and distresses, that
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Speaker 1: he may come in with seasonable succor in the critical juncture.
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Speaker 1: Number two, that he will be seen, be seen in
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Speaker 1: the mount in the greatest perplexities of his people. He
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Speaker 1: will not only manifest but magnify his wisdom, power and
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Speaker 1: goodness in their deliverance. Where God sees and provides, he
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Speaker 1: should be seen and praised. And perhaps it may refer
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Speaker 1: to God manifest in the flesh. Abraham's blessing confirmed be c.
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Speaker 1: Eighteen seventy two. And the Angel of the Lord called
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Speaker 1: into Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said,
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Speaker 1: by myself, I have sworn saith the Lord, for because
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Speaker 1: thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son,
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Speaker 1: thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee,
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Speaker 1: and in multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the
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Speaker 1: stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is
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Speaker 1: upon the sea shore. And thy seed shall possess the
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Speaker 1: gait of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all
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Speaker 1: the nations of the earth be blessed. Because thou hast
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Speaker 1: obeyed thy voice, So Abraham returned unto his young man,
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Speaker 1: and they rose up and went together to Beersheba. And
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Speaker 1: Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Abraham's obedience was graciously accepted. But
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Speaker 1: this was not all. Here we have it recompensed abundantly recompensed.
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Speaker 1: Before he stirred from the place, probably while the Ram
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Speaker 1: he had sacrificed was yet burning, God sent him this
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Speaker 1: gracious message, renewed and ratified his covenant with him. All
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Speaker 1: covenants were made by sacrifice, so was this by the
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Speaker 1: typical sacrifices of Isaac and the Ram. Very high expressions
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Speaker 1: of God's favor to Abraham are employed in this confirmation
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Speaker 1: of the covenant with him, expressions exceeding any he had
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Speaker 1: yet been blessed with. Note extraordinary services shall be crowned
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Speaker 1: with extraordinary honors and comforts and favors. In the promise,
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Speaker 1: though not yet performed, ought to be accounted real and
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Speaker 1: valuable recompenses observe. Number one. God is pleased to make
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Speaker 1: the mention of Abraham's obedience as the consideration of the covenant,
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Speaker 1: and he speaks of it with an encomium, because thou
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Speaker 1: hast done this thing and is not withheld by son
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Speaker 1: thine only son verse sixteen. He lays a strong emphasis
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Speaker 1: on this, and verse eighteen praises it as an act
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Speaker 1: of obedience. In it, thou hast obeyed my voice, and
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Speaker 1: to obey is better than sacrifice. Not that this was
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Speaker 1: proportionable consideration, but God graciously put this honor upon that
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Speaker 1: by which Abraham had honored him. Number two. God now
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Speaker 1: confirmed the promise with an oath. It was said and
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Speaker 1: sealed before, but now it is sworn by myself. I
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Speaker 1: have sworn, for he could swear by no greater Hebrews six,
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Speaker 1: verse thirteen. Thus he interposed himself by an oath, as
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Speaker 1: the apostle expresses it Hebrews six, verse seventeen. He did
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Speaker 1: to speak with reverence even upon his own life and
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Speaker 1: being upon it as I live, that by all those
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Speaker 1: immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie,
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Speaker 1: he and his might have strong consolation. Note if we
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Speaker 1: exercise faith, God will encourage it. Improve the promises, and
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Speaker 1: God will ratify them. Number three. The particular promise here
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Speaker 1: is that of a numerous offspring multiplying. I will multiply
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Speaker 1: thee verse seventeen. Note those that are willing to part
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Speaker 1: with anything for God shall have it made up to
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Speaker 1: them with unspeakable advantage. Abraham has but one son, and
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Speaker 1: is willing to part with that one in obedience to God.
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Speaker 1: Well said God, thou shalt be recompensed with thousands and millions.
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Speaker 1: What a figure does the sea of Abraham make in history?
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Speaker 1: How numerous, how illustrious were his known descendants, who to
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Speaker 1: this day triumph in this that they have Abraham to
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Speaker 1: their father. Thus he received a thousandfold in this life
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Speaker 1: Matthew nineteen, verse twenty nine. Number four. The promise doubtless
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Speaker 1: points at the Messiah and the grace of the Gospel.
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Speaker 1: This is the oath sworn to our father Abraham, which
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Speaker 1: Zacharias refers to Luke von verse seventy three in following,
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Speaker 1: And so here is a promise sub point one of
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Speaker 1: the great blessing of the Spirit. In blessing, I will
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Speaker 1: bless thee, namely with that best of blessings, the gift
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Speaker 1: of the Holy Ghost. The promise of the Spirit was
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Speaker 1: that blessing of Abraham, which was to come upon the
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Speaker 1: Gentiles through Jesus Christ. Galatians three, verse fourteen, s point
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Speaker 1: two of the increase of the Church, that believers his
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Speaker 1: spiritual seed should be numerous as the stars of heaven.
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Speaker 1: Sub point three of spiritual victories. Thy seed shall possess
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Speaker 1: the gait of his enemies. Believers by their faith overcome
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Speaker 1: the world and triumph over all the powers of darkness,
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Speaker 1: and are more than conquerors. Probably Zacharis refers to this
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Speaker 1: part of the oath Luke one, verse seventy four, that we,
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Speaker 1: being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might
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Speaker 1: serve him without fear. But the crown of all is
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Speaker 1: the last promise sub point four of the incarnation of
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Speaker 1: Christ in thy seed one particular person that shall descend
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Speaker 1: from THEE. For he speaks not of many, but of one,
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Speaker 1: as the apostle observes. Glatians three verse sixteen, shall all
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Speaker 1: the nations of the earth be blessed, or shall bless themselves,
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Speaker 1: as the phrase is Isaiah sixty five, verse sixteen. In
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Speaker 1: him all may be happy if they will, and all
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Speaker 1: that belonged to Him shall be so, and shall think
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Speaker 1: themselves so. Christ is the great blessing of the world.
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Speaker 1: Abraham was ready to give up his son for a
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Speaker 1: sacrifice to the honor of God. And on that occasion
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Speaker 1: God promised to give his son a sacrifice for the
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Speaker 1: salvation of man. And it came to pass after these
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Speaker 1: things that was told Abraham, saying, behold, Milka, she hath
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Speaker 1: also born children unto thy brother Nahor. Huzz is first born,
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Speaker 1: and Buzz his brother, and Kemule, the father of Aram.
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Speaker 1: And she said, and hazo In Pildash and Chidlep, and Bethuel,
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Speaker 1: and bethiuell beget Rebecca. These eight Milka did bear to Nahor,
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Speaker 1: Abraham's brother, and as concubine, who was named Rhuma. She
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Speaker 1: bare also Tiba Gaham, thehash and Mayaka. This is recorded
34:10
Speaker 1: here first to show that though Abraham saw his own
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Speaker 1: family highly dignified with peculiar privileges, admitted to covet it
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Speaker 1: and blessed with the entail of the promise. Yet he
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Speaker 1: did not look with contempt and disdain upon his relations,
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Speaker 1: but was glad to hear of the increase and prosperity
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Speaker 1: of their families. Number two to make way for the
34:30
Speaker 1: following story of the marriage of Isaac to Rebecca, a
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Speaker 1: daughter of the family. End of chapter twenty two.