WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.040 Tonight we are continuing our study into the life of Abraham and we've come to the passage 00:00:08.040 --> 00:00:12.400 which we read in Genesis chapter 22. We're going to look at the whole of this section, 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:17.800 but we can read again together from verse 6. Abraham took the wood of the burned offering 00:00:17.800 --> 00:00:23.879 and laid it on Isaac his son and he took in his hand the fire and the knife and they both 00:00:23.879 --> 00:00:30.759 went on together and Isaac said to his father Abraham my father and he said here I am my son. 00:00:31.559 --> 00:00:35.239 He said behold the fire and the wood but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 00:00:36.039 --> 00:00:42.759 Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son and so they both 00:00:43.320 --> 00:00:50.599 went on together. Two or three weeks ago we were looking at Genesis chapter 15 and we said that 00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:57.399 chapter was quite possibly the strangest and coolest chapter in the whole of the Old Testament. 00:00:58.359 --> 00:01:07.879 Genesis 22 is possibly the most distressing yet at the same time the most comforting chapter 00:01:07.879 --> 00:01:14.040 in the Old Testament. It's distressing because it is a difficult chapter. The whole idea of 00:01:14.040 --> 00:01:22.120 Abraham sacrificing his own son is awful and it just seems unthinkable. But as I hope we're going 00:01:22.120 --> 00:01:30.120 to see this evening this chapter is also a powerful picture of the incredible love that lies at the 00:01:30.120 --> 00:01:36.680 heart of the Christian faith. In order to understand this specific chapter in the book of Genesis, 00:01:36.680 --> 00:01:42.200 I think it's important to understand the wider question of how the Old Testament and the New 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:50.600 Testament fit together. The Bible is split into two big parts, Old Testament and New Testament. 00:01:50.600 --> 00:01:57.000 And the theme that runs across both of these is the theme of covenant. That's really what 00:01:57.000 --> 00:02:04.520 Testament means. We could just as easily say Old Covenant and New Covenant. Covenant is the Bible's 00:02:04.520 --> 00:02:11.400 term of describing the relationship between God and humanity. And the whole message of the Bible 00:02:11.400 --> 00:02:18.840 is how the relationship between God and humanity was created, broken and then restored. 00:02:19.800 --> 00:02:25.319 Now the first two of these are described to us in Genesis chapter 1 to 3. So those arrows in the 00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:32.759 diagram are not to scale in terms of length of the Bible. Genesis 1 to 3, a very short section, 00:02:32.759 --> 00:02:41.799 describes two of the biggest events in terms of the relationship between God and humanity. The 00:02:41.799 --> 00:02:47.959 relationship is created, the relationship is broken, but then the rest of the Old Testament and the 00:02:47.959 --> 00:02:54.439 whole of the New Testament describe how that relationship is being restored. And the way in 00:02:54.439 --> 00:02:58.759 which the Old Testament and the New Testament fit together is in the sense that the Old Testament 00:02:58.759 --> 00:03:06.439 is a shadow of the full reality that is revealed in the New. So it's not that the Old is completely 00:03:06.439 --> 00:03:12.120 undone and abandoned by the New. Some people think that, but we don't. We believe that the 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:18.120 Old Testament gives us a shadow of the full plan of salvation that's implemented in the coming of 00:03:18.120 --> 00:03:25.799 Jesus in the New Testament. So if you imagine it in terms of buildings, we mustn't think that the 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:33.560 Old Testament is a kind of old building that gets tented and then a new one is built in its place. 00:03:33.560 --> 00:03:39.400 That's not how to understand it at all. Instead, when we look at the Old Testament, 00:03:40.120 --> 00:03:49.960 we are looking at the shadow that the New Testament building is making. And these two are 00:03:49.960 --> 00:03:59.080 inseparable, but one is just an outline of the real thing. So the Exodus is a shadow of the 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:06.040 full reality in the New Testament, whereby God delivers us out of slavery to sin. The temple 00:04:06.040 --> 00:04:11.240 in the Old Testament is a shadow showing us the New Testament reality that God wants to dwell 00:04:11.240 --> 00:04:17.639 within us. King David in the Old Testament is a shadow showing us the New Testament reality 00:04:17.639 --> 00:04:26.680 that the kingdom of God has come and Jesus is king. And exactly the same applies to Genesis 22. 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:35.560 This chapter is a shadow. It's a shadow of what is happening on the cross. 00:04:38.120 --> 00:04:42.759 As we look at this passage, I want us to notice three things. The first two will be a wee bit 00:04:42.759 --> 00:04:48.279 longer. The third one will be very short. We see a shadow of a son who is precious. 00:04:49.399 --> 00:04:55.399 We see a shadow of a substitute which is provided. And we see a shadow of a blessing 00:04:56.120 --> 00:05:04.680 which is poured out. At the start of Genesis 22, we read that God tested Abraham and said to him, 00:05:04.680 --> 00:05:10.920 Abraham. Abraham says, here I am. And God says, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, 00:05:10.920 --> 00:05:16.439 go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which 00:05:16.439 --> 00:05:23.400 I shall tell you. In these verses, Abraham is commanded to offer his son Isaac. And as God 00:05:23.400 --> 00:05:30.040 gives that commandment, there's one key truth that is very strongly emphasized. That key truth 00:05:31.240 --> 00:05:38.920 is that this child is precious. You can see that in the words God uses in verse two. He says, take 00:05:38.920 --> 00:05:46.280 your son. Doesn't say take the boy or take Isaac. He says, take your son. This is Abraham's very 00:05:46.280 --> 00:05:55.480 own child. Not only that, he is his only son. Isaac is unique. There is no other child that's been 00:05:55.480 --> 00:06:01.960 born to Abraham and Sarah. They'd waited 25 years from when God first spoke to Abraham back in Genesis 00:06:01.959 --> 00:06:09.560 12 to when Isaac was born in Genesis 21. Abraham has been asked to offer something that is utterly 00:06:09.560 --> 00:06:16.359 unique and utterly irreplaceable. And that's reinforced by the third thing we see, where it says, 00:06:16.359 --> 00:06:28.120 take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love. For Abraham, Isaac is not just a unique child. 00:06:28.120 --> 00:06:36.600 He's an utterly cherished child. Abraham loves his son. For Abraham, there is no one in the world 00:06:36.600 --> 00:06:43.399 like Isaac. And the father-son relationship between them is a bond of the deepest love. 00:06:44.840 --> 00:06:52.920 So from the very beginning of Genesis chapter two, it's made absolutely clear that Isaac is 00:06:52.920 --> 00:07:00.920 precious. Now at this stage of the chapter, all of that just reinforces how difficult and 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:08.280 distressing and shocking God's command to Abraham is. It all just seems unthinkable. 00:07:09.400 --> 00:07:16.120 But the question we have to ask is, well, is God being horrible? Or is God trying to show us something? 00:07:17.240 --> 00:07:21.560 And the fact that the Old Testament is a shadow is telling us that it's the latter. 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:31.240 God is showing us something. Isaac is a son who is incredibly precious, but he is actually a shadow 00:07:31.240 --> 00:07:40.840 of the son who is the most precious son of all, Jesus Christ. If you go forward into the New 00:07:40.840 --> 00:07:45.720 Testament and read about Jesus in the life, read about the life of Jesus in the Gospels, 00:07:45.720 --> 00:07:54.280 there's two crucial moments when God the Father speaks from heaven. One of them is at Jesus' 00:07:54.280 --> 00:08:00.520 baptism. The other is at the transfiguration when Jesus goes to the top of a mountain and 00:08:00.520 --> 00:08:07.240 his glory is revealed to the disciples who are with him. At each of these crucial moments when 00:08:07.240 --> 00:08:19.560 God the Father speaks from heaven, he says the same thing, you are my beloved son. This is my 00:08:19.560 --> 00:08:27.639 beloved son. And in John 17, Jesus himself speaks about the Father's love for him. He says, Father, 00:08:27.639 --> 00:08:32.200 I desire that they also whom you've given me, maybe with me where I am, to see my glory that 00:08:32.200 --> 00:08:42.440 you've given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. So in Genesis 22, 00:08:43.720 --> 00:08:51.000 Isaac is maybe about 12 years old and for every second of those years that Isaac has been alive, 00:08:51.000 --> 00:08:59.480 he has been utterly loved by Abraham. But God the Father has had God the Son with him forever 00:08:59.480 --> 00:09:07.720 and for every second of that eternity, the Father has poured his love into his precious son. 00:09:08.519 --> 00:09:14.759 So here in Genesis 22, we're getting a shadow and a glimpse of the intimate beautiful bond 00:09:14.759 --> 00:09:23.000 that there is between God the Father and God the Son. To God the Father, there is none like Jesus. 00:09:23.000 --> 00:09:30.440 He is the Father's one and only, he's the Father's beloved, he has been the object of the Father's 00:09:30.440 --> 00:09:38.679 love forever. So when the Bible says that God is love, that's not just kind of vague mystical 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:46.840 niceness. It's actually a logical fact arising from the fact that from forever until forever at 00:09:46.840 --> 00:09:56.600 the very heart of the being of God is a Father who loves his beautiful, precious, treasured Son. 00:09:58.920 --> 00:10:03.960 And this is one of these situations where exaggeration is actually understatement, 00:10:03.960 --> 00:10:09.639 because I could try to use every single superlative I could think of to describe the love that God 00:10:09.639 --> 00:10:16.199 the Father has for God the Son. And yet no matter how much I say, I wouldn't even come close 00:10:18.679 --> 00:10:24.840 to conveying the fullness of what it means when God says, this is my beloved Son. 00:10:27.720 --> 00:10:34.439 And for those of us who are parents, every ounce of love that we have for our children 00:10:34.440 --> 00:10:40.920 is a glimpse into this. In fact, that's part of what it means for humanity to be made in the 00:10:40.920 --> 00:10:48.040 image of God. We love our offspring. And the uniqueness of that is especially true, I think, 00:10:48.040 --> 00:10:56.440 in terms of fatherhood. I'm from the Isle of Lewis and there's a lot of sheep there in the Isle of 00:10:56.440 --> 00:11:07.720 Lewis. And I've seen sheep all my life, seen them many, many times. But I have never, ever seen 00:11:08.680 --> 00:11:16.600 a ram looking out for his offspring. I may be wrong, but I'm not even sure a ram is even 00:11:16.600 --> 00:11:23.160 aware that he has offspring. And certainly they don't treat their offspring as though they're 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:28.759 precious. And even the expressions of care that we do see in the animal kingdom around us, 00:11:29.799 --> 00:11:38.839 they're temporary. Humans are different. That's why when fathers fail to love their children, 00:11:39.399 --> 00:11:45.000 it's because we're failing to be the fathers that God wants and expects us to be. And that's an 00:11:45.000 --> 00:11:56.759 awful thing and a really, a really hard thing to experience. So, father, please guard against 00:11:56.759 --> 00:12:04.440 idolizing your children, because that obviously dishonors God, but also please make absolutely 00:12:04.919 --> 00:12:12.360 sure that you pour your love into your children, because that is to God's glory. 00:12:12.360 --> 00:12:19.399 All of this means that when you think of Jesus, alongside recognizing the fact that he's our 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:26.279 King, our Teacher, our Savior, our Guide, we must also always remember that Jesus is the precious, 00:12:26.840 --> 00:12:39.320 unique, beloved Son of God. In Isaac, we see a shadow of Jesus, the Son, who is incredibly 00:12:39.320 --> 00:12:48.760 precious. The second thing we see, though, is a shadow of a substitute which is provided. 00:12:49.480 --> 00:12:57.480 As described in detail in these verses 9 to 13, the tension builds up in the chapter and Abraham 00:12:57.480 --> 00:13:03.560 takes his son, he binds him, he lays him on the altar, and he takes the knife in his hand to kill 00:13:03.559 --> 00:13:13.959 him. And at that moment, God calls out and says, stop, do not lay a hand upon him. And instead, 00:13:14.599 --> 00:13:19.719 a ram which is caught nearby is offered in Isaac's place. 00:13:22.439 --> 00:13:28.039 I'm not sure if any of you are reading Genesis 22 for the first time tonight. Maybe you are, 00:13:28.039 --> 00:13:34.839 maybe for many of us, it's a passage we've read several times before. But even as I read it now, 00:13:35.559 --> 00:13:41.079 I try to think as though I didn't know the outcome. And reading through the verses, the tension 00:13:41.079 --> 00:13:46.599 builds up as the chapter goes on, and you think, what is happening here? And there's such a sense 00:13:46.599 --> 00:13:53.799 of relief when you come to verse 12, and God says, stop. And even though I know the outcome, 00:13:53.799 --> 00:14:00.519 and I've known the outcome since I was a child, I am still always relieved to reach verses 12 and 00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:09.399 13 when God provides a ram to die instead of Isaac. Two key things that emphasized here. The first is 00:14:09.399 --> 00:14:17.639 that the ram is provided by God. So even as they were walking to Mount Moriah, Abraham was looking 00:14:17.639 --> 00:14:23.399 to God to make some kind of provision. And at that moment, when it looked like the worst was 00:14:23.399 --> 00:14:31.079 about to happen, everything changes because of the provision that God makes. And in response, 00:14:31.079 --> 00:14:41.559 Abraham names the place the Lord will provide. The second key point is that the ram is a substitute 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:49.799 who is offered instead of Isaac. Those two words in verse 13 instead of are so important. They're 00:14:49.799 --> 00:14:57.559 showing us the reason why God makes this provision. The ram is provided so that Isaac is protected. 00:14:57.559 --> 00:15:05.399 The ram is the substitute who takes his place. And again, in all of this, the key thing that we need 00:15:05.399 --> 00:15:14.439 to recognize is that God is showing us something. This is a shadow of a substitute being provided. 00:15:14.440 --> 00:15:24.920 All of this, of course, raises the whole issue of sacrifice. Isaac is almost offered as a sacrifice, 00:15:24.920 --> 00:15:31.560 and the ram is offered in his place as a substitute. And if you go on to read the rest of the Old 00:15:31.560 --> 00:15:40.600 Testament, there's a huge emphasis on sacrifices. Why is that? Well, central to the emphasis on 00:15:40.600 --> 00:15:49.639 sacrifices is the fact that as far as the Bible is concerned, death is a massive problem. 00:15:51.159 --> 00:15:58.840 Humanity was created by God to live, but sin has ruined that and has put us on a path to death. 00:15:58.840 --> 00:16:05.800 And to God and to us, that is a massive problem. And it's a reminder, if you're wondering whether 00:16:05.799 --> 00:16:10.759 the Bible is relevant to you or not, well, ask yourself the question, is death a problem to you? 00:16:11.879 --> 00:16:17.479 And if it's not, then the Bible is probably not going to do much for you. But if death is a problem 00:16:17.479 --> 00:16:24.679 for you, then the Bible is exactly what you need. The Bible tells us that death is a problem, 00:16:25.399 --> 00:16:32.679 and that problem is caused by sin. So the way to get rid of death is to get rid of sin. 00:16:32.679 --> 00:16:42.120 But the only thing that gets rid of sin is death. So let me try and illustrate what I'm saying here. 00:16:43.879 --> 00:16:49.559 Imagine my heart, and I mean the physical organ inside me, imagine my heart was contaminated 00:16:49.559 --> 00:16:57.799 with radiation. So every time my heart beats, it produces radioactiveness that goes into my blood, 00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:05.960 and that radioactiveness in my blood is slowly killing me. The only way to stop my heart from 00:17:05.960 --> 00:17:14.119 producing that radiation that will kill me is to stop my heart from beating. But if you stop my 00:17:14.119 --> 00:17:22.119 heart from beating, I'm still going to die. That's the situation that sin has left humanity in. 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:29.239 Humanity needs to get rid of sin to avoid death, but the only thing that gets rid of sin is death. 00:17:30.119 --> 00:17:36.839 That's why sin has created an unstoppable path to death in the experience of humanity. 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:45.799 And that's why we all die. And of course, this is why God hates sin, and this is why God judges 00:17:45.799 --> 00:17:55.480 sin because it is so utterly horrible. And radioactiveness is a good illustration for sin, 00:17:56.359 --> 00:18:05.960 because if something is radioactive, then you can't un-radioactive if I it. All you can do is get it 00:18:05.960 --> 00:18:13.399 away from you and put it somewhere else. That's exactly what sin is like, and that is exactly 00:18:13.400 --> 00:18:19.080 what the Old Testament sacrificial system is pointing us towards. It's grounded on the principle 00:18:19.080 --> 00:18:29.000 that the death that sin makes inevitable needs to be diverted off us onto a substitute. 00:18:30.200 --> 00:18:36.680 And Genesis 22 and the whole of the Old Testament sacrificial system is a shadow of that. 00:18:36.680 --> 00:18:44.279 Ultimately, it wasn't effective because ultimately the blood of bulls and goats can't take away sin, 00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:52.680 as Hebrews 10 tells us. Animals can't be an adequate substitute for humans. But the whole 00:18:52.680 --> 00:19:00.200 of that system was never intended to be effective. It was intended to be a shadow. A shadow of the 00:19:00.200 --> 00:19:09.480 sacrifice where a perfect substitute would take the death resulting from our sin instead of us. 00:19:11.319 --> 00:19:19.480 So in Genesis 22, we see a shadow of a son who's precious and a shadow of a substitute 00:19:19.480 --> 00:19:26.920 which is provided. And the key point is that on the cross, both of these come together. 00:19:26.920 --> 00:19:38.279 On the cross, the precious Son of God becomes the perfect substitute provided for us. 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:46.440 On the cross, Jesus dies in our place as our substitute. In doing so, all our sin is placed 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:54.519 on him and his perfection is placed on us. If we go back to the radioactive heart illustration, 00:19:54.519 --> 00:20:05.480 our broken contaminated heart is transplanted to him. And his healthy, righteous, perfect heart 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:14.680 is transplanted to us. And the result is that we are saved. And the fact that Isaac was saved 00:20:14.680 --> 00:20:22.680 because the ram took his place is a shadow of the fact that we are saved because Jesus takes our 00:20:22.680 --> 00:20:34.600 place. But the key point of Genesis 22 is that the magnitude of what Abraham almost had to do 00:20:35.960 --> 00:20:44.039 is giving us a glimpse into the magnitude of what God actually had to do in order to save us. 00:20:44.039 --> 00:20:53.480 In Genesis 22, there's massive relief when Abraham's precious Son is spared. But when God 00:20:54.680 --> 00:21:00.279 when God saw Abraham take that ram out of the thicket in place of Isaac, 00:21:02.279 --> 00:21:10.440 he knew that when it came to his own precious Son, Jesus, there would be no ram to take his place. 00:21:10.440 --> 00:21:19.559 In Genesis 22, the Son is replaced with a ram. And that's the pattern for the rest of the Old 00:21:19.559 --> 00:21:26.519 Testament shadow. But at the cross, all the bulls and goats and rams of the Old Testament shadow 00:21:26.519 --> 00:21:33.480 come to an end. And in the New Testament, it's not that a Son is replaced with a ram, it's that 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:45.319 the rams are replaced with a son. And Abraham's statement, the Lord will provide ultimately 00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:53.960 means far more than Abraham himself perhaps ever realized. And it's summed up beautifully in the 00:21:53.960 --> 00:21:59.720 verse we read at the beginning of the service in Romans 832, where it speaks of God as the one who 00:21:59.720 --> 00:22:14.200 did not spare his own son, but gave him up. This is where we see the massive cost of the cross. 00:22:15.480 --> 00:22:21.960 The awfulness of Genesis 22 is a glimpse into the awfulness of the cross. It's no wonder that Jesus 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:27.079 was in agony in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night before the cross. It's no wonder he prayed 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:32.439 that this cup might pass from him if there was somehow a possible way for that to happen. 00:22:32.439 --> 00:22:40.839 It's no wonder he needed to be strengthened by angels. The cross costs God everything. 00:22:42.679 --> 00:22:54.119 His Son is not spared. The Father has to give him up. At the cross, God provides a substitute. 00:22:54.119 --> 00:23:01.319 And that substitute is his very own beloved precious Son. 00:23:04.599 --> 00:23:12.119 And in the midst of all the agony, pain and distress that that causes, we have to ask the 00:23:12.119 --> 00:23:19.879 question, why? Why would God do that? And the amazing thing is that you can answer that question 00:23:19.880 --> 00:23:28.840 in one word. Why is God doing this? The answer is because of you. 00:23:32.760 --> 00:23:37.640 If you look at the next three words in Romans 832, it says, 00:23:37.640 --> 00:23:43.480 He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all. 00:23:43.480 --> 00:23:50.920 All of this is so that you can be saved through faith in Jesus Christ. 00:23:53.000 --> 00:24:00.279 And if you can see how precious Jesus the Son of God is, and if you can see just how 00:24:00.279 --> 00:24:07.640 perfect the provision that God made is, then you will see just how much you are worth 00:24:07.640 --> 00:24:17.560 in the eyes of God. The massive cost of the cross is paid in full because of how precious you are 00:24:17.560 --> 00:24:25.640 to God. This is summed up beautifully by Eric Alexander, who is a retired minister who preached 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:31.160 in Glasgow for many years. And I would wholeheartedly recommend listening to his sermons. Talking 00:24:31.160 --> 00:24:39.800 about Genesis 22, he said, when you look at Abraham, you think, wow, see how much Abraham 00:24:39.800 --> 00:24:51.880 loved God. But when you look at the cross, you say, wow, see how much God loves me. 00:24:51.880 --> 00:25:04.200 And the preciousness of the one on the cross and the perfection of the provision God has made 00:25:04.200 --> 00:25:11.080 there tells you one of the amazing truths that lie, that lies at the heart of the gospel. 00:25:12.120 --> 00:25:21.080 Here are two very simple questions. What is space worth? What does space have to do to be 00:25:21.079 --> 00:25:25.879 worth something? And you need to put your own name in the gap. So what does Thomas worth? 00:25:25.879 --> 00:25:32.119 What does Thomas have to do to be worth something? And you can put your own name in that place. 00:25:33.399 --> 00:25:42.279 Humanity's instinctive answer to question one is usually nothing. Deep down, I think almost 00:25:42.279 --> 00:25:51.799 everyone struggles with self-worth. I know that that varies a lot to different degrees. 00:25:52.759 --> 00:26:01.079 But I think everybody deep down feels a need to do something to prove that they are worth 00:26:01.079 --> 00:26:06.440 something, whether that's in terms of your work or your looks or your experiences or whatever. 00:26:06.440 --> 00:26:13.080 And these things can give us self-worth. So if we achieve something in our career, if we do well at 00:26:13.080 --> 00:26:21.080 uni, if we get on well at school, or if we have a good reputation among our friends or our colleagues, 00:26:22.360 --> 00:26:28.920 these things can give us a sense of self-worth. But the very fact that we need things to give 00:26:28.920 --> 00:26:37.800 self-worth is because we on our own, when everything else is stripped away, we don't feel worth very much. 00:26:40.279 --> 00:26:46.279 Humanity's answer to the second question is usually everything. That's why every man-made 00:26:46.279 --> 00:26:53.960 religious system involves doing stuff in order to be worthy of a deity. And even non-religious 00:26:53.960 --> 00:26:59.799 people feel the need to do stuff in order to find wholeness and peace in their lives. People will say, 00:26:59.799 --> 00:27:06.600 I need to find myself, or I need to do this or do that. I need to be this or be that. So for us, 00:27:07.319 --> 00:27:15.960 the instinctive answer to the question, what am I worth is nothing. And often the instinctive 00:27:15.960 --> 00:27:25.880 answer to the question, what do I have to do to be worth something is everything. The amazing 00:27:25.880 --> 00:27:34.200 truth of the gospel is that if you ask these two questions to God, the answers are the other way 00:27:34.200 --> 00:27:49.160 around. So what are you worth to God? You're worth everything. And the cross proves that 00:27:50.440 --> 00:27:58.519 because Jesus is so precious. And what do you have to do to be worth something in the eyes of God? 00:27:58.519 --> 00:28:09.639 Nothing. And the cross proves that as well because Jesus has done everything needed in order for you 00:28:09.639 --> 00:28:19.400 to be God's precious child forever. All of that brings us to our third point, which is very brief. 00:28:20.599 --> 00:28:25.000 We see a shadow of the sun who's precious. We see a shadow of the substitute which is provided. 00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:33.319 But in Genesis 22, we also see a shadow of a blessing which is poured out. We see that at 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:38.039 the end of the passage, when an angel comes to the Lord a second time and says to him, 00:28:38.839 --> 00:28:42.759 the angel of the Lord comes to Abraham a second time and says, by myself I've sworn, 00:28:42.759 --> 00:28:48.200 declares the Lord, because you've done this and not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely 00:28:48.200 --> 00:28:53.000 bless you. And I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sun 00:28:53.000 --> 00:28:58.519 that is on the seashore and your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies and in your offspring 00:28:58.519 --> 00:29:06.440 shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. The key point 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:14.279 here is the fact that as a result of the fact that Abraham did not withhold his son, blessings 00:29:14.279 --> 00:29:21.960 were poured out upon Abraham and upon others. So there's a blessing of family. His offspring are 00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:27.640 going to be greatly multiplied. There's the blessing of security. Enemies are not going to be a threat. 00:29:27.640 --> 00:29:32.440 That's what's conveyed by the phrase, your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies. 00:29:33.079 --> 00:29:39.079 And there's a blessing for all people, all the nations of the earth are going to be blessed. 00:29:40.039 --> 00:29:48.759 And what I want us to see is that this too is a shadow of the cross. Because the fact that God 00:29:48.759 --> 00:29:58.119 did not withhold his son has meant that incredible blessings are being poured out upon humanity. 00:29:59.319 --> 00:30:04.839 If you are a Christian or if you become one through faith in Jesus Christ, we have the blessing 00:30:04.839 --> 00:30:12.200 of a beautiful family. God is our father. We are his children. And we are all brothers and sisters 00:30:12.200 --> 00:30:20.920 as one family in Jesus. We have the blessing of unshakable security. Sin and death cannot 00:30:20.920 --> 00:30:27.559 threaten you anymore if you are trusting in Jesus. Nothing can snatch you out of the father's hand. 00:30:28.440 --> 00:30:35.080 And we have an amazing blessing for all nations. And the good news of Jesus is transforming lives 00:30:35.080 --> 00:30:41.240 across the world. And we have the amazing privilege of continuing to spread that message 00:30:41.240 --> 00:30:47.559 and to share that good news. And again, it's all summed up perfectly in the verse that we read at 00:30:47.559 --> 00:30:52.839 the very beginning of our service. We were in Romans 832 where it says, He who did not spate 00:30:52.839 --> 00:31:00.519 his own son, but gave him up for us all. What does it say next? It says, How will he not also with 00:31:00.519 --> 00:31:11.879 him graciously give us all things? Genesis 22 gives us a shadow of a precious son. It gives us a 00:31:11.879 --> 00:31:20.839 shadow of a substitute provided. And it gives us a shadow of amazing blessings being poured out. 00:31:20.839 --> 00:31:34.359 And the amazing thing about the cross is that there, all of these shadows become a reality. 00:31:38.439 --> 00:31:40.279 The last thing I want to say is this. 00:31:40.279 --> 00:31:50.440 In the Old Testament, we have shadows. In the New Testament, we have the reality. 00:31:53.000 --> 00:32:03.319 But today, we have pale limitations. Now, what I mean by that is the fact that today, 00:32:03.319 --> 00:32:13.319 people are looking for peace and joy and hope and self worth and love in stuff, in their health, 00:32:13.319 --> 00:32:19.000 in their possessions, in their social media profile, in their work, in their sex life, 00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:25.079 in their status, in their reputation, in their political party and in hundreds of other places. 00:32:25.079 --> 00:32:35.240 And the thing I want to say is that all of these are just pale limitations of what God is offering 00:32:35.240 --> 00:32:48.759 to you in Jesus Christ. And if you are not yet a Christian, all I ask you to do is compare. 00:32:48.759 --> 00:32:59.160 Compare what the stuff in your life is offering you with what God is offering you. 00:33:00.920 --> 00:33:06.359 And compare what you are worth in the eyes of all that stuff 00:33:08.440 --> 00:33:13.400 with what you are worth in the eyes of God. 00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:20.680 I hope you can see the difference. And I hope that you can hear God's voice calling you to trust in 00:33:20.680 --> 00:33:28.840 him today. Amen. Let us pray. 00:33:32.200 --> 00:33:40.840 Father, we thank you so much for what you've done for us in Jesus. 00:33:40.839 --> 00:33:52.439 That you gave your precious son and you did not spare him but gave him up for us all. 00:33:54.279 --> 00:34:02.839 And we just thank you so much for doing that. And we thank you that with him and through him 00:34:03.959 --> 00:34:10.759 you have poured out so many blessings upon us. Help us all to see that and help us all to 00:34:10.760 --> 00:34:17.800 share that amazing news. In Jesus' name, amen.