Transcript

0:00
Is where I stand. I stand beneath the Lord of
0:07
Jesus, please for me, always in love.
0:14
How can it be the Lord of Jesus please for me?
0:35
Let's pray together. Father, we thank you that every
0:41
song that we sang to this evening, every word that we will
0:48
hear from this book is true. It's all true.
0:52
We acknowledge that we are indeed sinners, rebels, wayward,
0:58
and lost sheep. But you brought us home because
1:01
you sent the Great Shepherd who laid down his life for the
1:05
sheep. We pray, Lord, that you would
1:08
use this service to to reign our hearts in and to remind us what
1:13
we are celebrating here is the most important thing about our
1:17
lives, the most important news that this world can ever hear,
1:22
and the most blessed hope that anyone can have.
1:26
Be with us, Lord, as we continue in this service, in Jesus name
1:29
we pray. Amen.
1:31
Amen. You may be seated.
1:39
Thank you. I found myself today praising
1:44
God for His wonderful Providence over this church.
1:49
Many of you know that we are in a transition as a ministry, as a
1:52
family. In a few short weeks, we'll be
1:55
in our brand new permanent home. And there's been a lot going on
1:58
in the background. There's been a lot of
2:00
preparation and conversation and praying and planning, and yet we
2:06
find ourselves in the time of the year where most churches
2:09
take this weekend to meditate and reflect on what's most
2:13
important. And I praise God that we find
2:16
ourselves at this time, even though there's so much going on
2:20
for this church, being brought back to what matters the most.
2:25
This is all about the gospel. This is all about the Son of
2:29
God, Jesus Christ, the living One who lay down His life for
2:34
us. What took place 2000 years ago
2:39
was not confined to that time. And what I mean by that is God
2:44
and His great mercy and power prepared generations for what
2:49
Christ would accomplish 2000 years ago.
2:54
He had summoned and empowered prophets of the one true God to
2:59
provide and preach and to preserve prophecies and precise
3:04
predictions concerning the various aspects and the nature
3:08
of Christ's substitutionary death.
3:12
And more than that, His vicarious death was foretold
3:16
through shadows and types, pictures and events, and even
3:21
people who point to the greatest fulfillment, the ultimate
3:26
fulfillment in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
3:32
God has preserved records of this and what we know to be the
3:34
Bible. And one of the clearest scenes,
3:38
one of the most impressive stories, which is a true story
3:42
that foreshadows who Christ is and what he would do, is in the
3:48
story of Abraham, called by God to sacrifice his son Isaac in
3:54
Genesis 22. What's most often emphasized is
3:59
Abraham's impeccable and inspirational unreserved
4:05
obedience and faithfulness to the most difficult exhortation
4:10
and instruction that he can receive from God.
4:13
And so what's usually brought up from that chapter is look at how
4:17
faithful Abraham was. Look how he passed the test.
4:20
And this is how you and I can be faithful.
4:21
And that is wonderful. That is true.
4:23
But I want to use this time to remind you that the success of
4:27
that story, the impact of that moment, would be lost without
4:32
Isaac in the story. Isaac in that story is a picture
4:38
of Jesus Christ. Abraham in that same story is a
4:42
symbol, is a metaphor, is a foreshadowing of God the Father.
4:48
And today, this isn't really a sermon, if you'd like to call it
4:52
that. That's OK.
4:53
I want to use it more as a time of reflection.
4:55
And I want us to look simply at some things about Isaac that
5:00
will have each of us here who have an honest understanding of
5:03
the Bible saying that's Jesus, that's Christ, that's my Lord,
5:09
that's my Lord mentioned thousands of years before he
5:12
even entered into the world. And so really, we are going to
5:16
just get a glimpse of the masterpiece of this chapter.
5:19
And I'll tell you this, if we wanted to, we can go through
5:23
every single verse of that chapter.
5:24
And if we did, we'd be here for a very long time because every
5:28
verse in that chapter virtually points to Jesus Christ.
5:32
I make that argument. But we won't be looking at every
5:35
verse. We can't do that tonight.
5:37
But I want us to consider a few things.
5:39
So I heard some Bibles flipping through the pages earlier at the
5:44
opening of the service. Can we do that again as we go to
5:46
Genesis 22, take our Bibles and go to this very known text and
5:52
meditate on a few things that will be very helpful for our
5:54
worship tonight? I want to look at three things
6:02
about Isaac that reflect Jesus and the first thing I want us to
6:07
consider is the significance of Isaac.
6:10
Let's read the first 2 verses together.
6:13
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him,
6:17
Abraham, and he said, here I am. He said, take your son, your
6:23
only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah,
6:28
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the
6:31
mountains, of which I shall tell you.
6:36
You and I should stop in our tracks when we read how God
6:42
describes and designates Isaac. He tells Abraham, your son, your
6:52
only son, Isaac, whom you love. Now this should strike us.
6:56
Why? Well, for many reasons.
6:57
One of the main ones, practically speaking, is that we
7:00
know that Isaac is not Abraham's only son.
7:04
We have Ishmael, who was already born, who was virtually a young
7:09
adult at this point, and yet he is designated.
7:13
Isaac, at least is designated as his only son.
7:16
Why? Why is that?
7:18
For the same reason why Jesus is referred to as the only son in
7:22
John 316. You know, many critics and
7:25
opponents of the deity of Christ will unfortunately point out
7:30
that the title Son of God for Christ is not that meaningful,
7:33
because it seems as though the Bible tells us there are many
7:36
sons of God. In Job 16 we learned that the
7:40
angels are referred to as the sons of God, and Romans 814
7:43
Those who put their faith and trust in Christ, and who are
7:46
indwelled by the Holy Spirit are known as the sons of God.
7:50
And so Christ may be more important than others, but not
7:54
that special being deemed as the Son of God.
8:00
But you have to understand that the word only in the Bible is
8:04
not limited to a numeric term or description of quantity Only in
8:10
the Bible at times can also mean something of uniqueness value.
8:18
You know, in Hebrews 11/17, Isaac there in the New Testament
8:21
is also referred to as Abraham's only son, and that word in the
8:27
Greek is monogan S It's the same word in John 316.
8:30
And the actual meaning of the word is one of its kind,
8:36
significant, set apart, special. And that is what we find here
8:43
with Isaac. This is what God seems to be
8:45
conveying, that he is your only Son.
8:47
He's the Son of the covenant. He's the Son whom I will make
8:49
the promises that I made to you become a reality.
8:53
He is significant. And what's so special for us to
9:00
consider here about the only Son whom is who is loved, is that
9:04
this emphasizes just how massive this request is for God to make
9:13
this call. Is Abraham having to give up his
9:18
most cherished, his most, his most prized, his most beloved
9:23
thing they could ever offer? And the question I had was, why
9:33
ask for him? You made this man wait so long
9:36
to have him, and he built all these memories with him, and his
9:41
hope is so strong, and he's rejoicing in your faithfulness.
9:46
And now, in a very, very, very seasoned part of his life, you
9:52
were asking him to give it all up.
9:56
Why? Because God wanted to know.
9:59
Abraham, do you love me more than anything?
10:03
Am I your supreme treasure Do I mean more to you than anything
10:08
else I I've ever given to you even even Isaac.
10:12
That's exactly what we discovered later on in the story
10:14
peak at verse 12 with me for for a moment as Abraham is about to
10:19
strike his son with a knife. It says here he being the Angel
10:24
of the Lord, said do not lay your hand on the boy or do
10:27
anything to him for now. I know that you fear God seeing
10:31
you have not withheld your son, your only son from me.
10:37
Here's what's so moving about this.
10:41
God wanted to see if Abraham loved him more than Isaac, and
10:47
the way that Abraham was going to prove that was by giving up
10:50
Isaac. And the Lord, as someone rightly
10:57
observed in wanting to prove his love for us, did so by not
11:04
withholding his own son, but by giving him for us.
11:13
It's amazing to consider that we too, and looking at what God has
11:17
done with his only son, can say with confidence, I know he loves
11:20
me. I, I have absolute confidence
11:24
that he loves me because he did not withhold his son from me.
11:30
The significance of Isaac is so obvious and what's even more
11:35
clear is the submission of Isaac.
11:38
If you look at the story and read, you don't only find the
11:41
obedience of Abraham, a faithful friend to God, but you also find
11:46
the unreserved compliance of his son Isaac.
11:52
Now many get this wrong in understanding the story.
11:56
They think that Isaacs willingness to go along with
12:00
Abrahams wishes was because he was a young boy, he didn't
12:03
really have any other choice, or that he was just innocently
12:07
trusting in the leadership of his father.
12:10
And this confusion stems from the word boy being used in verse
12:13
5 and in verse 12. But the Hebrew word actually
12:17
denotes A broader meaning than our modern conception.
12:20
This is not about a little boy, 1/2 grown man.
12:23
This could actually be referring to a young adult or a teenager
12:26
because it's applied in the same way in many other passages.
12:30
And when you look at the internal evidence, I mean, you
12:32
see that Isaac is able to discern the situation,
12:36
especially as they're making their way up to the mount.
12:38
He realizes we have the wood, we have the fire, but where's the
12:41
lamb? You know what I love about that
12:44
part? It shows that Isaac understood
12:47
what it meant to sacrifice to the Lord.
12:49
Abraham taught him well, and he was old enough to carry the load
12:54
of wood on his shoulders. A little boy can't do that.
12:58
If you read even more carefully, you'll see by the end of the
13:01
story that Isaac's old enough to act independently.
13:07
So this is not a this is not a child, this is a young man.
13:13
And it makes the accuracy of this reflection and this
13:17
parallel to Christ that much more wonderful because it
13:22
reminds us what Jesus said in John 10/18 when he was speaking
13:27
about his own death. He wanted to clarify something
13:29
very important and he said that no one takes it from me.
13:34
I lay it down of my own accord. I have the authority to lay it
13:38
down and I have the authority to take it up again.
13:44
Jesus Christ was not reluctant going to the cross.
13:48
He wasn't forced. He wasn't coerced.
13:50
He wasn't manipulated to do so. He desired to do so.
13:57
He desired to do so and obeying the Father, and He desired to do
13:59
so in redeeming us. You know, this is so powerful.
14:04
But there's even more to consider.
14:06
I want you to see the language here, verse 6 of Genesis 22,
14:12
down through verse 8. And Abraham took the wood of the
14:18
burnt offering and laid it on it, on Isaac his son.
14:20
And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
14:23
So they went both of them together.
14:26
And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, and he said,
14:29
here I am my son. He said, behold the fire and the
14:32
wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering?
14:35
Abraham said, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt
14:38
offering, my son. So they went, both of them
14:41
together. There's a phrase repeated twice
14:43
in those verses. It's so important.
14:46
It's the last part of verse eight.
14:47
Look at it again. So they went, both of them
14:51
together, you find at the end of verse 6, as well as though the
14:56
Holy Spirit wants to illustrate that the Father and the Son were
15:02
in complete harmony. Isaac, not for a moment, went
15:09
his own way. He didn't delay, He didn't go
15:12
ahead. He was completely In Sync with
15:15
his dad, and whatever his father said, he did.
15:20
Wherever his Father went, he went.
15:24
Whatever his Father asked of him, he did.
15:29
What did Jesus tell us in John 519?
15:32
That whatever he sees the Father doing, he does.
15:38
And so even in this we find Isaac reflecting, showing us,
15:43
preparing us for the greater Son who would absolutely and totally
15:51
obey what the Father asked of him.
15:53
You're saying, why is that important?
15:54
I'll tell you one reason. It's important because Jesus won
15:57
your obedience. Jesus performed your
16:03
righteousness. Every law that He obeyed, every
16:09
command that He was given on any given morning by the Father, all
16:14
of that righteousness that He accumulated, that perfection is
16:18
then now transferred to us as though we have perfectly obeyed
16:23
the Father. You see, His obedience is more
16:27
than just confirming His deity and His perfection.
16:31
Yes, it prepared Him to be the spotless Lamb to be slain,
16:35
absolutely. But it's also to win our
16:39
obedience, to clean our record, not just by forgiving the debt,
16:44
but by putting into that account righteousness.
16:50
So we see the submission here of Isaac.
16:54
And lastly, the substitute for Isaac.
16:59
We know the story very well. This boy is laid on the altar
17:03
that Abraham built and that he organized.
17:08
There's no sign of a fight. There's no wrestling.
17:12
There's no attempt to escape. As much as Isaac's actions here
17:18
prove something of his obedience, the things that you
17:21
don't find in there also say something about his compliance
17:25
and his submission. There's no protest, is there?
17:30
There's no questioning, just total trust and total
17:39
willingness. And Abraham, I love Abraham's
17:45
faith, all the promises in the back of his mind, that three day
17:51
journey making his way to the region known as Mariah, trying
17:55
to make sense, I'm sure of what this is all about.
17:58
And by the time he gets to the desired location, he determined
18:03
that although the promise is in this boy, the promise for
18:06
generations, the promise for the world to be blessed is in this
18:09
child. If God's asked me to kill him,
18:12
it means that he's going to raise him from the dead.
18:14
That's the only logical conclusion here, because God
18:16
keeps His word and so he's ready to go through with this.
18:22
Some think that Abraham has this understanding that God is going
18:26
to stop him from slaying his son.
18:29
No, no, no, Abraham, we have all the reason to believe that he is
18:33
going to actually perform this act.
18:37
And as he's ready to do it, his hand is stayed.
18:40
The Angel of the Lord, as we read earlier in verse 12, stops
18:42
him and says, you passed the test.
18:45
I know that you fear me. I know that you love me above
18:47
all things, including Isaac. But the story doesn't stop
18:50
there. Abraham looks behind him and
18:55
there's a ram caught in the thicket.
18:58
And he takes that ram. And instead of Isaac, he kills
19:05
that ram and it becomes a burnt offering.
19:11
This is this is one of the earliest depictions, the
19:14
earliest sites of God showing us the truth of substitutionary
19:22
atonement. But there's more than that
19:26
happening here. Look at verse 14.
19:30
So Abraham called the name of that place.
19:33
The Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount
19:38
of the Lord, it shall be provided.
19:42
This is where the famous title for God, Jehovah Jireh comes
19:46
from. And many people use the
19:51
Scripture to speak about God's faithful provision, his
19:54
providential provision, How We have nothing to fear.
19:57
God will always provide. That is certainly true, but the
20:00
context suggests something much more deep, something that we are
20:04
looking at tonight. Concerning Christ, notice that
20:08
it doesn't say he called the Lord Jehovah Jireh.
20:12
He named the place Jehovah Jireh.
20:18
And Moses who's the author of Genesis even adds this in verse
20:21
14 as it is said to this day. So even up to the days of Moses,
20:28
when it came to this specific location, there were those who
20:30
looked on that hilltop and said, Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will
20:35
provide. And so does Moses or Abraham
20:39
rather set this hill up as a memorial of God's faithfulness?
20:42
Absolutely. But the tense here and the sense
20:45
here is that he's also Speaking of something future.
20:49
Abraham was a prophet. And we have all the reason to
20:53
believe that in this scene, in this very moment, he got a
20:57
glimpse of something to come. And it's about this place.
21:04
Mount Moriah has only referenced one other place in all of the
21:08
Hebrew Scriptures. Turn with me to Second
21:11
Chronicles 3, verse one. This is the account of Solomon's
21:27
efforts and his accomplishments concerning the Temple, the
21:30
permanent structure of worship, where the nation of Israel would
21:35
be able to meet with the Lord and have their sins covered and
21:41
give to God what is His due. Notice what it said here in
21:43
Second Chronicles 31. Then Solomon began to build the
21:47
House of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah.
21:53
So Mount Moriah, wherever this hill is, is in Jerusalem, where
22:00
the Lord had appeared to David his father, at the place that
22:03
David had appointed on the threshing floor of Ornan the
22:05
Jebusite. So Abraham in Genesis 22, after
22:10
experiencing God's intervention, after experiencing how God
22:13
substituted for his son, says of this place the Lord will provide
22:23
you come to Second Chronicles 3 and you see a partial
22:25
fulfillment of it. The very same site with the
22:28
temple be built where many other animals would be offered up as a
22:32
sacrifice to cover the sins of the people of God.
22:35
But there's even a deeper, more wonderful connection here.
22:40
Notice the clue it says here in the second part of verse one of
22:45
Second Chronicles 3, where the Lord had appeared to David his
22:48
father at the place that David had appointed on the threshing
22:51
floor of Ornan the Jebusite. God wants us as we come to this
22:55
historical moment, to think back to what happened with David, who
23:02
had his own revelation in Jerusalem at this site, deeming
23:07
at the place where God's house would be built.
23:10
And when you go there, you see something amazing.
23:15
Let's go there in First Chronicles now and look at
23:22
chapter 21. What do you have here?
23:29
In First Chronicles 21? You have the record of David's
23:33
senses bringing judgement upon the people of God.
23:37
We don't have time to get into why David counting the number of
23:41
military men and counting the number of his population at the
23:45
time was wrong. It has to do with his motive and
23:48
his method. But a prophet approaches David
23:51
to let him know you did sin and God is going to bring judgment.
23:59
And so David accepts this. But then you get a glimpse into
24:03
the spiritual realm. David himself and others with
24:06
him have the veil removed and he he gets some kind of insight
24:10
into what's taking place behind the scenes.
24:13
And it's here in verse 14. So the Lord sent a pestilence on
24:17
Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell, and God sent the Angel to
24:23
Jerusalem to destroy it. But as he was about to destroy
24:27
it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity.
24:31
And he said to the Angel who was working destruction, It is
24:33
enough, now stay your hand. And the Angel of the Lord was
24:40
standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
24:43
And David lifted his eyes and saw the Angel of the Lord
24:46
standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn
24:50
sword stretched out over Jerusalem.
24:57
Then David and the elders clothed, and sackcloth fell upon
25:00
their faces. Let's gather some of these
25:05
things. In Genesis 22 on Mount Moriah
25:11
you have Abraham, called by God to lead his son to the
25:15
slaughter. He lays his son on the altar.
25:20
He draws his knife, and as he was about to plunge it into the
25:25
chest of his one and only son, the angels of the Lord says,
25:30
stop. Hundreds upon hundreds of years
25:36
go by, and David finds himself at the very same site.
25:42
Judgment is released, and here he sees an Angel with a sword in
25:47
his hand, extended over Jerusalem.
25:52
And before he drops that sword to slay the citizens and
25:57
inhabitants of the holy city, a voice from heaven commands the
26:02
Angel to stop. Stay your hand.
26:11
Something happens hundreds of years after this point.
26:17
Jesus and Mark 14, after instituting the Lord's Supper,
26:24
tells us in verse 26 and verse 27 that they were ready to go to
26:28
the Mount of Olives. But before they make their way,
26:32
he looks at his own disciples, and I want you to see what he
26:36
says to them in Mark 14, verse 27.
26:54
And Jesus said to them, You will all fall away, for it is
26:58
written, I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be
27:02
scattered. Where is that written?
27:09
He quotes Zechariah 13 verse 7. But what he does here in
27:15
Zechariah 13, seven is that he quotes the second part of it.
27:21
But he tells us by making this reference that He is the
27:24
fulfillment of Zechariah 13 seven.
27:27
Does anybody remember the first part of Zechariah 13 seven?
27:32
Well, allow me to read it in your presence.
27:35
Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd, against the man who
27:40
stands next to me, declares the Lord of hosts.
27:42
Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.
27:46
I will turn my hand against the little ones.
27:48
Jesus was in Jerusalem when he died.
27:54
Was he not just outside the city?
27:56
Some even believe that he was on the ridges of Mount Moriah.
28:01
In Genesis 22 there was a knife ready to strike Abraham's only
28:07
son. His hand was stayed.
28:11
In First Chronicles 21 there is an Angel with a sword in his
28:15
hand, and he was ready to strike Jerusalem, but a voice from
28:19
heaven commanded that hand to go no further.
28:26
And then Jesus Christ, the Son of God appears on the scene, and
28:31
he would later be pinned to a cross.
28:35
And according to Zechariah 13, seven, the sword of the Lord, a
28:40
picture of God's justice and wrath would be unsheathed.
28:45
But this time there was no cry from heaven for that sword to
28:49
stop. There was no halt.
28:53
There was no retraction of the outpouring of justice.
28:56
There was no escape from this devastating blow.
29:00
The sword in Zechariah 13 seven met the Son of God and pierced
29:10
him. The law will provide.
29:18
He named that place Jehovah Jireh.
29:26
Isaac didn't experience it. Thousands upon thousands in
29:29
Jerusalem and David's day didn't experience it.
29:34
Jesus experienced the sharpest sword with the strongest thrust
29:41
so that you wouldn't have to experience it.
29:49
He took your place, and he received the blow of God's
29:56
fierce judgement, and he took piercings physically, and he
30:04
experienced pain and suffering on levels that we dare not
30:10
explore because no mind, no matter how great it is, can
30:16
conjure up or fathom what took place in those very few hours on
30:21
that cross. The substitute for Isaac, sure,
30:32
but also the substitute for all of humanity.
30:39
And that's what we're reflecting on tonight.
30:42
That's what we're here to meditate on tonight.
30:45
It should have been you. It should have been me.
30:48
But God and his great love gave his Son and allowed the sword to
30:55
strike him. And that's why we have this
31:02
evening every year, so that we can come into this place and not
31:07
think about what I can do for God, how I can bless God, as
31:13
important as that is. How I can become more godly and
31:17
more holy and more sanctified and more serious.
31:20
There's a time and place for that.
31:22
But what this is all about, ultimately, is what God has done
31:25
for us. This is part of the offense of
31:29
the gospel. You're telling me I don't have
31:32
any role to play in my salvation?
31:36
There's no punishment I have to accept, There's no record that I
31:41
have to keep. There's no sacrifice I have to
31:44
make. And for many, for millions, this
31:47
is unattractive. They want a part to play in
31:52
their own redemption. And we are Christians, strange
31:56
creatures on this planet for many reasons, including this
32:01
one. Our salvation solely rests on
32:03
the one who took the sword on our behalf.
32:07
And you and I come here, yes, once a year.
32:10
But I hope every day to remember that the foundation of it all is
32:16
that He took my judgement. He paid the price for me.
32:22
He fulfilled the righteousness that I don't deserve but
32:26
desperately need. And there are so many threads in
32:31
this beautiful book that amplify that message so that you and I
32:40
would one believe it. So that we would be saved but
32:42
also rest in it. I found myself this whole day
32:49
today. Try not to allow any other
32:52
thought enter into my mind and to fix my meditation upon this
32:57
glorious truth. I am forgiven forever if you
33:04
really believe that, if I really believe that, then we're the
33:08
richest people on earth, we're the most blessed.
33:13
We have nothing to boast about in ourselves but Christ, this
33:17
great love. From the beginning He planned it
33:23
that He would take what we deserve and give us what we
33:26
don't deserve. So tonight, as we are going to
33:30
partake of the bread and the cup, please approach this table
33:37
with the revelation that the sword fell upon him so that I
33:44
can go free. Let's pray.
34:05
Father, in the sacred setting we say thank you for your love.
34:18
Abraham proved his love for you by giving his only son.
34:24
You have shown your love for us by giving your only son.
34:34
Thank you for the the brilliance of your word that there are so
34:41
many ways to perceive and understand what took place on
34:43
the cross. And you've given us a new
34:45
revelation of a sword, a sword that did not strike Isaac, a
34:53
sword that did not fall upon Jerusalem, and a sword that
34:58
should have fell on each of us, but instead was aimed at the Son
35:02
of God and Pierce them so that we can be free.
35:11
Lord, we gladly confess in your presence tonight that as we eat
35:16
and drink of these elements, we are savoring the grace of God,
35:22
the free gift of salvation that was very costly.
35:29
We love you, Lord, help us love you more.
35:34
In Christ's name we pray, Amen. Just remain seated as we get the
35:39
table organized. Let these lyrics and the music
35:43
wash over you and prepare your heart to come.
35:46
Not sorrowful, not guilty, but overwhelmed by His love.