Scriptures Referenced
Genesis 22:1-14
Abraham’s Faith Confirmed
Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!”
And he said, “Here I am.”
Then He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!”
And he said, “Here I am, my son.”
Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Video Transcription
00:00
I was speaking to my mother’s friend Elsie who is like my second mother this week and Telling her a little of the stuff that’s gone on in our lives, and she said I want to give you this scripture and Exodus 14 14 the Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace
00:20
And the very next day my mother called me and said, God, I was reading my Bible, God told me to give you this scripture, same exact scripture. So I think he was trying to talk to me in that. And I just wanna remind y’all like, when you start feeling really down on yourself, and people around you are talking, and they think that you’re worthless, or they tell you you’re worthless, don’t believe that. Because
00:49
In the world’s eyes, we may be worthless or they think we’re to throw away, but in God’s eyes, we’re bought with a price and we’re forgiven and He loves us. He says we’re blessed and highly favored. He says we’re the head and not the tail. He says that He has a hope and a plan for our future.
01:15
to not harm us but to prosper and give us a good life. So that’s something that you have to keep in your mind when the world around you starts telling you that you’re nobody, that you’ll never be anything, remember those words. And so I have this scripture also, Matthew 11, 28 through 30. Come to me all you who are weary and heavy burden, and I will give you rest.
01:43
Take my yoke upon you and learn for me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” So this morning I woke up with that scripture in my mind and I asked Jeff, what is a yoke? Like what does he mean by that?
02:04
And I look this up, what does it mean to take Christ’s yoke upon us? It means to humbly do His will and allow Him to guide our lives. And how many times do we take that back and put our own yoke? That’s what they put over an oxen’s neck that they used to use to work with. How many times do we put that back on our own neck? And He’s telling us, you don’t have to do that. I’m right here. I can help you. Exodus 14, 14.
02:34
you just hold your peace I’m right here so remember those words but also remember this this is getting down to the the end of it y’all that this is the end times and Revelation 12 12 I’m sorry 12 11
02:54
and they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not live their lives to death. Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them. Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you, having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.” So when you’re under attack, remember that’s
03:22
You can fight and fight, fight, fight. Get in your prayer closet. I have a room and I put stuff up on the wall. I put scriptures, I put pictures, you know, whatever. And I get in there and I stand, I stand and pray. I’ve laid on this floor here and prayed because we have that right. God gave us that. So anyways, I hope that helps somebody because it helped me. And I am to introduce…
03:52
The one that survived Fort Sumner, Billy the Kid, that’s what Jeff said to say. This is the famous Bill Baker, we love him, and he will bless you, I promise.
04:09
The only thing famous about me is my picture on the wall down at the post office. You know what I mean?
04:23
We’re so glad, when this life’s over
04:36
Celestial
05:12
Every year.
05:54
Staying in
06:01
I saw that hearse come rolling For to carry my daddy away Well I told them that Hold on takers and undertakers Please drive slow Well the body
06:23
You are calling, oh the Lord knows I hate to see him go And will the circle be unbroken by and by, Lord, by
06:39
I’m just waiting in the sky, Lord, in the sky. Yes, where the circle, the unbroken fly by.
07:02
I sky-loan in the sky And I follow close behind them I try to hold up and be brave ..
07:17
I’m sorry.
07:31
Oh, I know that I’ve been seeing him When I spread these wings and I start heading home Hang with a circle beyond the road
07:51
There’s a better home waiting in the sky, on the other side of the sky. I tell you what, why don’t you walk around, shake each other’s hand, hug each other’s neck, cause I’m glad to see you on a sunny morning.
10:43
Jesus, my Savior, Lord there’s none like You.
10:56
Bye!
11:01
the wonders of your mind.
11:20
shelter my tower of refuge and strength to let every breath all that I am
11:37
The river and seas to worship you And shout to the
11:50
Let us sing
11:57
Just give praise to the King For the mountains bow down And the seas will roll At the sound of your name
12:19
I sing for joy at the word
12:26
Forever I love you, forever I stand And nothing compares to the promise I had in you
12:52
Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there’s no like You.
13:08
How long do you praise the wonders of your mighty love?
13:28
My shelter, my tower of refuge and strength, Lord let every breath.
13:44
I never cease to worship the U.S.
13:53
Shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing Power and majesty, praise to the King For the mountains bow down and the seas will roll At the sound of the…
14:24
Sing for George Hedges
14:34
forever I’ll stand and nothing compares to the promise I have sing it with me shout to the Lord all the earth let us sing
14:57
Praise to the King, for the mountains bow down and the seas will roll at the sound of your name.
15:18
sing for Joe Netto
15:25
Forever I love you, forever I stare And nothing compares to the promise I have Heee
15:47
than you.
15:57
Last night we went to eat. And Guy Baker, he’s a literalist. If you tell him something, he takes you literally at every ounce of the words you say. That’s the innocence of a child. And he was trying to guess how much the bill was.
16:19
He said, will you do this? Will you do that?
16:25
Surprise!
16:28
his mama looked at him and she said, we’ll take you to Las Vegas if you’re right. I said, you can’t tell him that because he’s a literalist. He already wants to go there and they’re far so bad it ain’t funny.
16:46
But if you think about the promises of God, and you learn to think about the promises of God as a child, and as a literalist, you can truly sing. And nothing compares to the promise I have. Oh Lord, nothing compares to the promise I have. My Lord.
17:15
compared to the promise I had in you.
17:40
Give the Lord a hand clap of praise, would you?
17:53
You are mine, full of love
17:59
that you hear me when I
18:09
You’re the one who’s thinking of me
18:16
Would you love me? Lord, it’s amazing. I am a friend of God.
18:35
Calls me free
18:52
me free
18:59
You are my poor lovely man
19:14
Is it true that you are
19:26
It’s amazing
19:42
speed
19:51
you
20:15
me free.
20:23
OHHH
20:31
God. He calls me friend. I’m a friend of God. Oh, I’m a friend of God.
20:45
Yes, I’m a friend of God. He calls me friend. If you found God to be closer than any friend, would you give him some love this morning in the house? Amen. You may be seated.
21:08
In a hotel room in Tulsa, I found myself all alone.
21:18
Just sitting at a table trying to write
21:25
song.
21:29
Only one word
21:33
Come to me
21:41
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus
21:57
Jesus, Jesus
22:05
I’m so sorry.
22:12
Were the rains coming down?
22:16
highway
22:19
came around the curve and I was running late. Next thing I knew, we were spinning round above the squeal of the tires I heard. My wife, she prayed out loud and she prayed, Jesus, Jesus.
22:47
You
22:53
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.
23:07
So when life is red
23:11
feel all alone
23:15
There’s one name that you can always call on, Jesus.
23:24
JEEZUS
23:28
Jesus
23:31
He’s a name above all names Jesus He’s a name above all names Sing it with me Jesus
23:58
He’s a name above all names, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He’s a name above all names, Jesus.
24:35
Give Jesus a hand, amen.
24:58
Jeff locks his song.
25:07
He’s ten years old.
25:11
Out at the county fair
25:23
He hit the ground And he didn’t move And an out you came on Said you know what to do Pray for the cowboy
25:43
Pray for the cowboy ..
25:52
She was 23.
25:58
She found a kind of man she could trust. He loved the rodeo as much as he loved her.
26:15
I know she can’t count the times As she cried herself to sleep She prayed for the cowboy
26:28
Br-
26:36
She prays
26:43
She prayed God to keep him safe whenever he’d take hold. And she prayed that he’d find Jesus before the next day. She prayed for the cowboy.
27:43
little boy
27:47
his mom and dad he said he wants to be a cowboy
27:56
So every night we say our prayers When winter came in We prayed for the cowboy
28:10
Kissing goodnight and pray you won’t care for
28:28
every time that he can cross off in that hole. And I pray that he finds Jesus before the next day. And pray for the cowboy.
28:55
pay for the cowboy.
29:11
Gator, thank you buddy. Gator’s my kill switch.
29:35
See ya.
29:48
I still had it for dance.
29:54
So proud of people
30:00
Oh, yeah
30:04
At that place, Brockett, Lord, you could hear it in the parking lot. But when I walked through them swinging doors, Lord, it was what I thought.
30:20
I used to know a little pillow on the outskirts of town They had pick-up trucks, cowboy hats, and honky-tonks and But it was all about Jesus and how he is loved and bound At night
30:45
To the drive of a place called Lost and Found.
30:52
Well that sign it did not lie Lord it fit me to a T Cause I was out looking for a future who used to be
31:10
every word that dad preacher spoke and my old home
31:20
someone to make it home. At that home they had a wheelhunt on the outskirts of town. They had pick-up trucks with cowboy hats and a honky-tonk sound. But it was all about Jesus, now His love of mouth.
31:50
To the drive of a place called Lost Aquam Yeah, he was all about Jesus Now he’s love-mine
32:07
That night I pulled into the drive-over place, got lost and found.
32:31
boy.
32:37
What do you know Gerald Crap’s song? It goes like this, People said I’d never make it.
32:47
Said I’d never see it through
32:52
They don’t know what keeps me going.
32:58
I guess I ain’t never have met you.
33:04
You know my life was in shambles Until the day you came along
33:16
Turned my tears to laughter He gave me a brand new song
33:29
I’m still holding on Lord I’ll never let you go
33:41
gave me this smile you touched my heart you touched my soul
33:52
All the bridges behind me Lord I burn to the ground
34:03
I’m still holding on to the best thing I ever found I love this part voted likely not to prosper was left hanging over my head that boy will never count for nothing
34:29
Oh, that’s what most people say Cause I’ve been known to be unsettled
34:40
I never stayed around, they hit me hard.
34:46
Lord, you’re the treasure that I’ve been searching for So I’ll keep holding on
34:58
still holding on Lord I’ll never let you go
35:10
You gave me this smile You touched my heart, You touched my soul So many bridges there behind me Lord, I
35:32
I’m still home
35:37
best thing I could ever find.
35:42
And all those bridges there behind me Lord I burned onto the ground But I’ll keep hold
35:58
the best thing I ever found
36:08
Bye.
36:17
you
36:36
country dance turns its truth. What they say.
36:46
My life ain’t a good life, but it was my place Tied in the darkness, it helped me so tight
37:00
I was sitting on a bar stool reading captions on the TV. It was like they were talking about me. And the silence was sudden when I started.
37:22
Last one!
37:32
Jim Beam I turned on John 3 16 I traded my wrecked life for a new No longer in sins changed praise God I’ve been changed a thousand grace a hundred proof
38:01
I said wonder how and then why did I ever live this long? But God had a purpose, he had a time, and he had a plan for my life.
38:27
You see in spas
38:31
He saved my soul and He forgave what I could never forget. He washed me in His blood, He wrought me in His love, and that’s a night that I won’t ever forget.
38:59
Jim Beam I turned on, John 3-16 I traded my reclap for a new
39:12
and since change praise god i’ve been changed around grace a hundred proof
39:28
In sins changed, praise God, I’ve been changed. I found grace, a hundred proofs.
39:51
Grace Hunter.
39:56
Oh man, kind of seemed to be on a slow song kick this morning. And you’ve probably heard me say it before.
40:10
I always thought grace unapproved was the closest thing in the story of my life I ever wrote.
40:21
this song I figured out I wrote the second act.
40:26
Don’t know where all these scars came from
40:34
the stories you could tell.
40:40
alone in windy roads.
40:47
I’ll let you hear today.
40:59
My own kind of hell
41:07
I’ve been through the struggle
41:13
I found Jesus for myself And I found a healer I found a savior A redeemer For all that I’ve done
41:34
Have fun!
41:40
I’ll show it like I never know.
41:45
Jesus.
41:53
Jesus
42:01
Well I don’t know where you’re headed
42:07
If you’re only passing through
42:15
I think it’s plain to see
42:21
You’re a man of desperate need.
42:41
But I have this friend named Jesus.
42:49
I talked to him today I found a healer I found a savior a redeemer
43:21
Jesus
43:28
No!
43:35
different and you want a new star let’s just smile or head you ask Jesus in your heart
43:49
I found a healer, I found a savior, a redeemer, for all that I’ve done.
44:07
I failed to be…
44:12
The kind I never know
44:17
I found Jesus.
44:24
When I find Jesus
44:37
I just kind of wonder this morning, is there anybody here searching, anybody here looking?
44:50
I’m going to talk about the devil coming against things.
44:57
He is.
45:00
I’ve been going to 11 hell. I’m discharged with you.
45:11
I’m sure I don’t.
45:18
This morning, if you’re looking for any of those things, if you’re looking for any one of them, if you need a healer, if you need a savior, if you need a redeemer, if you need love, if you need joy, if you need peace, would you just stand up right where you’re at this morning as a testament to say, God, I need that.
45:57
I would advise you just to close your eyes and fold your hands.
46:03
and begin to talk to God in this moment. I believe God’s here to meet needs. I believe he’s here to meet needs. I believe he’s here to do something. I’m gonna sing that chorus again. And while I’m singing, you just be praying. Believe me, I can sing loud enough won’t nobody hear what it is you’re praying but you and God. You just begin to cry out to him. You know what it is you have need of this morning in this house.
46:34
I found the healer, I found the savior Redeemer for all that I’ve done wrong
46:56
Enjoy like I never know
47:02
Jesus
47:08
And I found Jesus
47:15
You wanna see things different, Lord, if you need a new star Let’s just bow our heads and you open up your
47:31
There’s a healer, there’s a savior, Oh, a great redeemer for all that’s wrong.
47:45
I’m sorry.
47:48
There’s a peace, oh and there’s a joy, like you never know.
47:59
Jesus
48:06
Jesus
48:12
comes from above. Hold out. Hold.
48:23
Yes, I do.
48:28
Give the Lord a hand clap of praise for what He just did in your life. Amen. Amen. Gator.
48:46
Amen, thank you, Bill. Huncho, glad to be in God’s presence today. Come on. That was good, thank you, Bill, appreciate you. Well, take your Bibles this morning, open. I think I’m collecting bulletins right here.
49:06
No, I better not do that. Take your Bibles open to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis 22 while you are turning in your Bibles there, and I hope you brought your Bibles. Because if you didn’t bring your Bible, you remember what I’ve told you, there’s a lot of people around the world today that are having to carry their Bible to go to a place of worship to meet with other believers.
49:34
And if they get caught with that Bible, they and their family will go to prison. And they may lose their life.
49:42
And so I always want you to remember it is an honor. It is a privilege. It is a joy to carry your Bible. By the way, just so you know, there’s coming a day real soon, it’s already happening. They’re gonna try to get rid of your Bible, all right? They don’t want you to carry the Bible. They don’t want you to read that Bible. They’re gonna try to change that Bible. And you need to know your Bible. If you don’t know your Bible, you’re gonna be in a mess. How many of you know if you don’t know your Bible now, you’re in a mess? Say amen, right there.
50:12
Oh, just come on, you gotta join with me. We’re not here at the Catholic Church this morning. We at Cowboy Church, all right? There is a difference. Can y’all say amen? Amen. Oh gosh, that’s weak. Oh Lord. Amen, I got one shouter. Where’s baby Navey? She’s my shouting crowd over there. Is she sick today? No. Oh, they’re out of town. All right, y’all tell her to tune in on Facebook and shout for me, all right? Genesis 22.
50:40
I want to share something with you this morning and I’m going to try not to be long, but I told you last week and actually the last few weeks, God has really impressed on me to try and teach you who Jesus is. The most important question you will ever answer or be asked.
51:10
in your life is who is Jesus.
51:16
Who is Jesus? And so I want you to learn as much about him. Like I have one time a week that I get to see all of you assembled here and preach to you and if I have one mission, it is to teach you, to preach to you who Jesus is. Jesus asked his disciples one time, he said, who do men say that I am? In other words, who are people saying I am? Or what are people saying about me? Some said, well they say you’re John the Baptist reading Carpenter.
51:46
incarnated, you’re Elijah reincarnated, you know, we don’t know. They’re saying all kinds of things and Jesus says, but who do you say that I am? And when he turned to say that, Peter responded with this. He said, thou art the Christ, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. And that was the right answer. And that was the most important question that’s ever been asked.
52:08
answered. And so I want you to know it’s not just what Peter said but for every person under the sound of my voice whether in this building or listen online you need to know that the most important question you will ever answer is who is Jesus to you? In Genesis chapter 22 there was a story of Abraham and his wife Sarah. You may have heard of Abraham. Abraham is a really important
52:38
very important guy because Abraham was this guy in Genesis chapter 12 who was a pagan. He came from a family that did not worship the true and living God and yet by the grace of God, totally by a sovereign work of the grace of God, he calls Abraham and says, Abraham, I want you to pack up your stuff, pack up your family, pack up all your livestock and I want you to get ready to go. I’m going to take you somewhere.
53:08
Abraham says, where are we going? God said, don’t worry, I’ll tell you when we get there. You just be obedient, get your stuff, get your family. And this was not a small undertaking. This guy had a lot of servants, he had a lot of livestock to move. I mean, he didn’t make the Chisholm Trail days look like a picnic. This guy had a lot of stuff to move. And when he did, God had promised him this. He said, I’m going to bless you, Abraham. I’m gonna bless you, I’m gonna bless your descendants,
53:38
going to make a great nation out of you and from that great nation I’m going to bless all nations all people and you can imagine Abraham was going oh that’s great wonderful the only problem with that was that Abraham was getting old and he didn’t have any kids and God was making that promise to him
54:00
And so now Abraham has this one thing. He has a promise from God and that God said, I’m going to do this and I’m going to make a great nation out of you. I’m going to bless all nations through you. And Abraham has no children. And of course he asked the logical question, how are you going to do that? Because I don’t have any kids. And God said, when you’re old, I’m going to give you a son. I will be faithful to my word. How many of you know God is always faithful to his word?
54:30
that God always has the final say. We kind of took a survey through the Old Testament, those 39 books, and I didn’t, I may not have got them all, but we made a shotgun approach to it, showing you throughout every season of life, every dispensation, or every timeline in the Bible, whatever you want to call it, that God always had the final word because God always keeps His word, and I want you to know if God keeps His word, God stands by His word, then you can stand on
55:00
word. I’ve shared with you many times the Bible says heaven and earth will pass away but the word of our God will stand forever and so you can always stand on what God says and you say well what does God say about my life? You’ve got a whole book I hope in your hands called the Bible and God is telling you everything you need to know. You know the Bible is not just a book of history though it is the most accurate book of history in human history. It’s not just a
55:30
There’s none that’s even come close to rival it. But you need to know something else about the Bible. The Bible’s not just about things that has happened. The Bible is about things that are happening and happening in our day, in our life, and in your life. And so if you ever want to know, what does God say about me? What does God have in purpose or plan for my life? Well, just pick up your Bible and begin to read it, and God will reveal your entire purpose and His plan for your life.
56:00
there in the Bible. It is God’s love letter to you and I. It is God showing you how much He loves you, cares for you, and what He wants for you and your purpose in this life. So in Genesis chapter 22,
56:15
Abraham has now gathered up his family, his wife and his livestock, and he has no children, but God has made this promise, I will bless you, I will make from you a great nation, I will give you many sons, or I’ll give you a son and from them will come many, many sons. And Abraham has now had a son, matter of fact, get this, he was a hundred years old. How many of you all know a hundred is pretty old?
56:43
Notice I said pretty old, because I’m half that, all right? When I was 20 or 25 or even a teenager, I’d have thought you are ancient if you’re 100. Now, I’m just thinking that’s, you know, it may be old, but it’s being halfway there, I understand. But can you imagine being 100 years old and your wife being 90 and God giving you a child? You would think.
57:08
And you say, well, that seems kind of weird, kind of strange. Of course, it had to be to a point in a place. I mean, how many of y’all know any hundred year old and 90 year old people having babies? I don’t. And if we did, we’d be going, wow, that’s, uh, that’s weird. That’s a little odd.
57:27
And the whole reason for it is God wanted them to be so old physically that it would be impossible for them to do that on their own or give birth to or have a child on their own that so that when they did have a child it would be so audacious. It’d be so crazy that people would have to say only God could have done that. How many of you know that a lot of things you’re walking through
57:57
It’s not because God has not kept His Word to you. It is because God is wanting to get you to a place so that when He does do a miracle in your life, you will recognize it as it was totally God. Because anything that you and I can take credit for is not going to be a miracle of God. But whenever you find yourself so far down the pipe, so far back against the wall, so far in the place of impossibility, and then God comes forth, you never forget something like that.
58:27
You never forget that kind of change. When Bill was singing a moment ago and he was talking about coming to Christ and singing about a song that he had written about the first part of his life and then Grace of Hunter Proof and then the other song and he was talking about that and talking about remembering the day or remembering the place, remembering that moment. I can remember that in my own life because I knew the impossibility of my ability to change myself. How many of you have ever heard me say,
58:56
And by the way, to our young group in here, we have a lot of young people who are, how many of you are not married but planning on it someday? Just raise your hand. See there, a couple, yeah. Can I tell you something? I’m going to give you some marriage counseling 101 right here. I mean, this right here is worth a million bucks. And I’m going to give it to you for free. Are you all ready? Never think that you can meet somebody and change them.
59:26
for the better and then marry them. And especially never think that you can marry them and then change them after you marry them. If they are a jerk before you marry them, they will be a jerk times two after you marry them. If they’re a ding dong before you marry them, they’ll be a tweaky times two after you marry them.
59:46
Alright, well that’s Dr. Field couldn’t give you that good of advice. What I’m telling you is never think you can change somebody else. Matter of fact, and here’s my purpose of saying that because you can’t even change yourself.
59:59
You can’t even change yourself. It takes a miracle work of God to change you and I. And that is through Jesus Christ and his shed blood on the cross. And so never think you can change somebody, all right? That’s just, that has nothing to do with my sermon. So let’s go to Genesis chapter 22. Here is Abraham who has now been given a son. His name is Isaac.
01:00:21
And this is God’s promise. Abraham, remember, he’s a hundred years old by the time and he’s probably, some say, about 115 to 120 years old in the event that we’re about to read now. How many of you know that when you’re that old, you’re like, okay, I don’t know how much more can happen. I don’t really know what God’s going to do.
01:00:51
his son, Isaac, and it looks like God is right on track to keep his word. God has done this miracle in his life and kept his word, and then it’s like everything comes undone. Can I tell you something? You may be rolling fine today.
01:01:15
But if you I hope you’ve lived long enough to realize tomorrow is a new day. Jesus said, don’t worry about tomorrow and tomorrow’s troubles because they’ll be full tomorrow will be full of its own troubles. And the older I get, the more I realize that I don’t have to worry about tomorrow’s troubles. I got enough today. And one thing I can be assured of is that tomorrow have its own troubles. And so Abraham is rolling good. Everything is going well. And now all of a sudden, Genesis 22, God. Ask Abraham to do something.
01:01:45
crazy. I mean, I’ve been studying the Bible a long time and I’m telling you what he asked him to do right here just seems crazy. Read with me in verse number one and let’s read this story together because this is a pivotal story in the Bible. And when you connect these dots to the dots of the scriptures we’re going to read in a little bit, it will make sense who Jesus was. And I hope you’ll
01:02:15
the resurrection of Jesus is true. It’s the most true thing on this planet. And so Genesis 22 verse 1 it says, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham. Alright let me tell you something. How many of you that know that God will sometimes allow you to walk through a test? How many of you know sometimes he will allow you to go through a trial?
01:02:42
How many of you know that being a Christian does not exempt you from the troubles of life? You get that? It doesn’t mean, being a Christian does not mean that I will not struggle in my marriage. Being a Christian does not mean that I’ll never have a battle with depression or anxiety. Being a Christian does not exempt me from that, but being a Christian means that I have the promise of deliverance and healing and deliverance from that and I have promise of victory over all.
01:03:12
over the troubles of life. So I meet a lot of Christians that become Christians and then they start going through hardship and they bought into that health, wealth, and prosperity gospel. By the way, I don’t believe in health, wealth, and prosperity, I believe in health, wealth, and generosity because when you do that, God will bless you. I believe in that part. But I don’t believe in those who say, hey, come to Jesus and everything will be just great the rest of your life. They’re lying.
01:03:41
They’re lying. And let me tell you the number one reason why. Because when you become a Christian, guess what the devil does to you? He puts a bullseye on you. He says, no, no, no, no, I don’t want you to be a testimony for me. Hey, some drunk sitting on a bar stool, they’re not a testimony to anything other than you can get drunk and act stupid. Uh-oh, I’m plowing, hang on. Ch-ch-ch.
01:04:03
But you take somebody who says, I won’t do that. My life has been changed. My whole life has been rearranged by Jesus. The devil says, oh, I don’t want that person talking about that. I don’t want that person living for Christ, because that’s a testimony that will be a testimony that stands up for Christ, that shows the world that there is a real change through Jesus Christ and His shed blood on the cross and the deliverance that you find in Him.
01:04:33
because that is enough to convince somebody else if God changed them maybe he can change me that heaven doesn’t want that so he put a bullseye on your target or target on your back a bullseye on your back but the bible says that Abraham was tested now here’s something I want you to get and I’ve got to hurry I’ll get bogged down in in all this but he says God tested Abraham and said to him don’t you remember
01:05:02
God’s put Abraham into a test in this moment. And he says, here I am. And he said, take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. OK, now how many of y’all know this is getting weird? Real quick. God just said to Abraham, Abraham?
01:05:31
I want you to take your son, your only son Isaac, and I want you to take him to a mountain there and you’re gonna offer him as a burnt offering. In other words, you’re gonna build an altar of wood, you’re gonna kill him and then burn him, and you’re gonna do it as an offering to me. What? Can y’all just say, what? Help me out here. What?
01:05:56
Wait a minute, I thought you just said, Jeff, God promised Abraham a son and that he would bless him and that he’d give him this great nation through him and all this stuff. And I thought you said, God always keeps his word and you can trust God the word. And God never says oops and he never says I’m sorry. And God always says the final word. And that’s just my point.
01:06:15
because now he’s going to take his only son, the one God promised, the very thing that God promised and the very person that God lived that out through was his own, was Isaac and showed he was the living embodiment of the promise of God. And you can only imagine how dear and cherished he was to Abraham. And God says, Abraham, I want you to take him to Mount Moriah. There you’re going to offer him as a burnt offering to me.
01:06:45
I’m thinking what Abraham would think. What? You gotta be kidding me. Wait a minute. So verse three. So Abraham did what? If they were writing about me, they would probably say he rose early in the morning and headed for Fort Sumner. I don’t know, he’d gone. But no, no, look what Abraham does. He’s gone.
01:07:04
And this is the part I want you to get. So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and he split the wood for the burnt offering and rose and went to the place of which God told him. Notice he’s acting out in total obedience. He acts in obedience. You wanna know what real faith is? Faith isn’t just
01:07:33
saying I’m holding on to my faith. How many people do we see say, I got my faith, my faith’s gonna get me through, not my faith, faith, faith. And I hear people talk about faith, faith, faith, faith. Faith all the time and faith is a very important thing. But my question is always faith in what? I mean, you realize we are people of faith. It’s like sitting down, it’s like one time I sit down on an airplane next to a guy who told me he was an atheist.
01:08:02
I was flying back from Greenville, South Carolina, and this guy, he saw my Bible in my hand. He’s like, hey, what do you do for a living? I’m like, I’m a preacher. Oh, you’re a Christian? Yes, sir, I am. Oh, so you believe in God? Yes, I do. He goes, I don’t have enough faith to believe in God. And I’m like, well, wait a minute, you’re a great person of faith. And he’s looking at me kind of strange, just like, I just told you, I am actually an atheist, sir. And I’m like, oh, I don’t have enough faith to be an atheist. I believe in God.
01:08:31
And we begin this conversation as we’re talking about this. You may have heard me talk about this before. I’m like, do you realize how much faith you’ve had? Do you got on a plane? We are traveling at, I don’t know, how many hundred miles an hour? I don’t even know how many thousands of feet in air, but really high. I can barely see the ground from here. And did you talk to the pilot before you got on here? He goes, nope. Did you even see him? He said, nope. I said, me neither.
01:08:55
So first of all, we trusted a dude we’ve never met. We have no idea anything about him. And we don’t even know what school he went to. We’re not even sure the dude is up there flying the plane. For all we know, there could be a dog up there flying this plane. And you got on this plane like, did you talk to the mechanics who checked and repaired the plane before we took off?
01:09:19
He said, nope. I said, did you meet the guy that gassed up this plane? Are you sure we got enough gas in this plane to get back to Texas? He goes, nope. I’m like, would you agree with me that took a lot of faith to get on a plane that we don’t know who’s flying it, we don’t know about the person flying it, nothing about their credentials or their ability or their, we don’t know about the guys who worked on the plane. We don’t even know where the plane was built. And in the event this thing goes to crash, neither one of us can fly the plane, can we? And he’s like, I never thought of that.
01:09:50
I’m like, so you got faith in the airlines, in the pilot, and I could go on and on. What I’m trying to tell you is it’s not our faith, but it’s the object of our faith. And I want you to see who the object of Abraham’s faith, it was God. It was God’s word. He never wavered in doubting God’s word. That’s what makes this story so powerful to me is, right there at verse three, I would have left.
01:10:19
I would have thought I had a bad dream or nightmare. I would have just tried to run from God in that moment, if that’s what God was asking me, because it didn’t make sense. But how many of you know that there’s a lot of things in life that don’t make sense, and God asks you to do it, but I, and you may think, wow, this is the biggest setback of my life. Abraham could have thought that. I’ve been waiting my whole life for a son. God gives me a son. He kept his word to me to give me a son, but now he’s asking me to go kill.
01:10:49
my only son, that would seem like a setback to me. But you need to know that your greatest setbacks, listen to me, your greatest setbacks in life will become your greatest comebacks in life if you entrust it to God. If you’ll trust God’s word, God never fails. God always has the last word. God never says oops. God never has had to back up and apologize to one person in human history for missing anything. So he gets there and he says,
01:11:18
Look, you take your son, you go sacrifice him. Look at verse four. Then the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. Verse five, and Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. The lad, meaning his son and I, will go yonder. He’s from the country. Y’all get that right? We’re gonna go yonder. And we’re gonna worship. Wait a minute. We’re gonna go yonder and worship and we will come back to you again.
01:11:48
Read that statement with me. I’m not lying. And I didn’t misread it, read it again. Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder in worship, and we will come back to you. Now I’m not the smartest guy, and I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, you know, the best tasting cookie in the jar, nothing like that. But here’s what I do understand. I do understand a little bit about language, and I do understand that the word we means plural.
01:12:16
In other words, he didn’t say, the lad and I are gonna go and I’ll come back. He says, we’ll come back. And he didn’t just say, we’re gonna go up there and make this sacrifice. No, he says, we’re gonna go up there and worship. You see what Abraham recognized was that real worship, real worship requires great sacrifice. Real worship requires great sacrifice.
01:12:42
He recognized that even if he had to sacrifice his son, he was doing so because he saw that it was God himself and his word was worthy to make this sacrifice to. Can you imagine the turmoil in his heart? And more than that, he says something that is very powerful here. I mentioned he said, we will come back.
01:13:07
That is a statement of faith. He had two servants with him, but he says, servants, y’all stay here with the donkey. So there’s two men. There’s Abraham and Isaac going to the mountain, and he’s going to make this sacrifice. And the person he’s going to sacrifice is going to be his son Isaac, but he just makes this statement before he ever goes. He’s saying, we will come back. What did he mean by that?
01:13:30
Did he mean that God was not going to make him sacrifice his son? Well, he didn’t have that information yet. He knew nothing of that. What he did have is confidence in God and his promise. God had told him, I’ll give you a son. I’ll bless you through that son. I’ll make many nations of you. This son is the seed of my promise to you. And Abraham went in that moment knowing that he was about to have to do something that was incredibly difficult.
01:14:00
way God was going to work this out and even here’s what I believe in it by the way Hebrews tells me this this is how I know it even if he was going to have to sacrifice his own son he believed that God would resurrect him from the dead that’s incredible faith that’s powerful that’s this is a man acting in obedience because he’s a man full of faith but the object of his faith was God and his word and promise
01:14:26
So whenever someone asks you, hey, are you going to make it through this? And you say, yeah, because I got faith. Be sure and tell them who’s your faith is rooted in or who you believe in or who you’re trusting or hoping in. And that should be none other than God and his work. And so I’ve got to hurry. I want you to read fast with me. He says, we’ll go younger. We’ll, we’ll worship. We’ll come back to you. So Abraham took the wood verse six of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac’s, his son’s back and, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of
01:14:56
went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, My Father, and he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Look, we got the fire, we got the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? How many of y’all like to be in Isaac in that moment? Because he’s like, Okay, we’re gonna go make the sacrifice. Father, you said we got we got the fire, we got the wood.
01:15:23
We all got all the stuff. But Abraham hasn’t told Isaac yet, you’re about to be the offering.
01:15:32
And look what Abraham says, and Abraham said, my son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering. So the two of them went together. God will provide for himself the lamb. And they came to the place in which God told him, and Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood. I want you to underline that word wood.
01:15:57
in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood. Okay y’all this is getting real look at verse 10. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
01:16:14
Okay, so God has not told him he can’t offer his son. Nowhere in this has God stopped him yet. In other words, Abraham is walking in obedience, knowing what’s coming, and it’s not going to be easy.
01:16:32
but he’s also trusting in the word of God and God has made him a promise. I want you to understand something. Sometimes when God makes you a promise, you may have to walk through hell getting to it, but you can still trust God’s promise will be there.
01:16:50
God will allow us to go through tests and God will allow us to go through trials. But why would God even allow that in Abraham? Was it so that Abraham could prove to God that he trusted him? No, no, no, no, no. You need to understand something. God is sovereign. Say that word with me. Sovereign. Sovereign means if I say I am sovereign, it means I’m in total control. Say a state, we hear sovereign nations. That means that nation is totally in control of all of its own affairs.
01:17:20
God who is the ultimate sovereign is in control of everything and so God is This he is omniscient meaning he is all-knowing He is omnipresent meaning he has the ability to be in more than one place at one time And he’s omnipotent meaning he’s all-powerful So God has the ability to be in more than one place at one time He’s all-knowing meaning he knows everything matter of fact the Bible says that God knows your thoughts and my thoughts are far
01:17:49
off. In other words, before we ever get the thought, God already knows the thought we’re going to make. Isn’t that something? And so, God wasn’t needing for Abraham to prove his faithfulness to him. God, God was wanting Abraham to go through this test so that he could understand that he needed to have faith in God.
01:18:10
He was putting Abraham’s faith to trust not to prove to God, but rather so God could prove to Abraham Hey, I have always been faithful. I already know you got faith I want to see if you’re faithful to walk through it through the difficult times. Listen to me. It’s easy It’s easy to be a Christian on Sunday morning Yo, you got to understand I find Sunday mornings often a very easy part of my calling as a pastor
01:18:40
Because I get to get up here and I get to preach the word of God something to you that God has already said that I am assured of and I know is fail proof. And sometimes I have to get up here. I’m human. I get up here with with struggles and problems of my own and do it and trust me. I’ve stood here on this platform being the very last one that even wanted to be in this church at times because I was walking through my own personal stuff.
01:19:04
But here’s what I also can tell you. It’s easy to be a Christian among other people when everything’s going right, but man, when the rubber hits the road come Monday morning. When you go and you’re around other people who are not believers, who do not believe in God, who do not read God’s word, who do not care how you feel or what you think, then in that moment to trust God in His word, that’s when it gets difficult. And so Abraham,
01:19:30
is being put to this test and he he rears back his hand he’s about to thrust it into the chest of isaac his son and as he does i want you to see what the bible says
01:19:43
Verse 11, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said Abraham Abraham and he said here am I and he said do not lay your hand on the lad do not do anything for him for now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your only son from me then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked behind him and there was a ram caught in the thicket in the thicket literally means in the thorns of the
01:20:13
So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide. It is said to this day, in the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided. It’s where we get the word Jehovah Jireh, the Lord who provides. Here’s the point I want to make to you real quick and I’m going to close.
01:20:40
As I’ve read this story to you, and it’s in the Old Testament, and it’s very real. It’s a foundation, if you would, to the Jewish nation, and even to us in Christianity. And let me tell you why. Have you noticed the similarities in the story? And by the way, it’s a real story. It’s been very much documented, not only in the Bible, but in history. Not only do Christians believe in this very event, but so do.
01:21:09
many other religions including Islam. So just to say, well that’s just what you Christians believe. No, no, no, hang on a minute. This is the foundation of a nation right here, but also a cornerstone if you would to some of our beliefs as Christians. Have you noticed a similarity to another story that you might find in the Gospels?
01:21:30
Here’s Abraham who God had called and he said, hey Abraham, I will bless all nations that bless you I’m gonna make a mighty nation out of you and from your lineage from your seed. I’m gonna bless all people How would he do that? He was going to bring a redeemer because do you remember genesis chapter 3 the bible says after abraham and Or excuse me adam and eve had sinned god removed them from the garden of eden He put flaming swords angels with flaming swords to guard the garden of eden so that they could not come back in
01:22:00
because they had sinned and fallen. And God said something, he said, I’m gonna curse the world. The whole earth is cursed. Why would the earth be cursed? Because God had said earlier to Adam and Eve, he said, Adam, I’m giving you, mankind, dominion over the earth.
01:22:19
And so when Adam sinned, you’ve got to understand, before Adam sinned, there was no sin on the earth. Before Adam sinned, there wasn’t even death on the earth. But when Adam, the one whom God gave dominion over all the earth and all the inhabitants of the earth, when he sinned, it brought a sin curse on the whole earth. Hey, let me tell you something. This may not be popular, but kids, you listen to me. I know that you go to school and you’ve been indoctrinated with a theology of sorts.
01:22:49
that there is climate change and the world is falling apart and it’s because cows fart and we drive cars. Amen.
01:22:59
Can I just tell you that’s the stupidest bunch of stuff I’ve ever heard. I’m not stupid enough to believe that. And let me tell you why. Do I believe in climate change? Oh yeah, the Bible tells me in Romans that the whole earth is groaning. All of creation is groaning. There is, our world is falling apart. There is climate change. There is disasters. And Jesus said, as the closer we get to end times, the more those disasters will be frequent. In other words, we’re going to see an intensity of that, but it’s not happened from cows farting and driving cars.
01:23:29
happening because sin is growing worse and worse and worse and worse the men who sinned against God has brought a curse upon the earth and And because of that curse God promised something he promised out of me be removed from the Garden of Eden And he cursed the ground with thorns When you look at a thorn
01:23:49
I need you to remember that is a sign, a symbol of the curse of sin. When you go to a funeral service and if some of you were with me at one on Monday, you need to know it. It don’t matter if it’s a baby, if it’s an adult, it’s not whether the person did something right or wrong. What you need to understand is that whenever you go to a hospital and you see people who are sick or you go to a funeral home and you see people who have died, you need to be reminded that is part of the curse of sin.
01:24:19
by one man sin entered into the world and death by sin. And so the very fact that Abraham was gonna have to sacrifice to death his own son and then we see in that story that God says, no, no, no, hold just a minute. I just needed to see if you were willing to lay down the most precious thing to you for me.
01:24:47
So you want to know where the rubber meets the road in Christianity? Is when you really are willing to come to church, not because you’re trying to get brownie points with God, but you’re doing it because you love Him. Whenever you give an offering, you’re not doing it thinking, well, let me get some money and I’m going to give this offering because, you know, I mean, I’ve kind of done some bad things. I’ll never forget this. Every kid probably has done this.
01:25:16
if parents still have scissors in their house. I don’t even know. I mean, we’re getting to be wacky. When I grew up, there were knives, there were guns, there were scissors, all kinds of sharp objects. Our playgrounds didn’t have padded things. They actually had rusty bolts that you could catch your finger on and get technists from. You could die playing on the playground. Some of you are going, really? Yeah.
01:25:46
I drank out of a water hose. I rode in the back of a truck from Boyd, Texas to Keller, Texas just about every day with my dog and didn’t die. I survived.
01:26:01
My point here is this. When I was a kid, I’d never forget on a Sunday morning, my mom remembers as well, I think, we’re getting ready to go to church. And I decided when I had hair and it was still the same color, I needed a haircut. And so I stood in the mirror and I gave myself a haircut. How many have ever seen a four-year-old boy give himself a haircut? It does not turn out well.
01:26:24
It does not work out well. I had blotches and patches and my mama come in there and she’s like, oh my, what have you done? You know, I’ve got this. And so she’s like, that’s it? I can’t believe I may have got a whooping, I don’t know. We didn’t get disciplined when I grew up either. And I said, right, we got whoopings. Whoopings, in Jesus’ name. Beat the devil out of you, that’s why I’m so good. I turned out all right. So.
01:26:54
Getting ready and so I know we’re going to church in our church We had children’s church in our children’s church our associate pastor thing It was he did Joseph’s we had a sermon like they did in a big church And we even took an offering they had these little coffee cans they had passed around so I knew my mom and dad Always gave me money to take because going to church we were to give an offering to the Lord in other words We I was taught like David David said I will not offer to Lord anything that didn’t cost me something So we always I always knew going to church wasn’t just just going it was
01:27:24
to offer my best to the Lord and to give to the Lord because we loved him because of what he’s done for us. But in my little four year old mind that day, I can remember thinking, or maybe I was six, I don’t know. I was young and I thought, oh, I’ve done this. Oh, my hair. And I looked at him, you know, after I looked in the mirror actually at it, and I’m thinking, I gotta go to children’s church and sit in church with all them other kids. They’re gonna make fun of my hair because in those days you couldn’t wear a cowboy at the church.
01:27:53
And so I went and robbed my penny bank, and I took all my pennies, and man, when that offering can’t come, another coffee can’t come around, I filled that dude up. You know why I did it? Lord, I’m gonna give this money, make my hair grow back tomorrow before school. That was my thought. I’ll do this, cause God mama’s mad at me, God must be mad at me. And so I’m gonna give this money. It didn’t work. My hair took a long time to grow back.
01:28:23
The point I’m making with that. We laugh about that, but how many of us come to God and we think, well, I’ll do good, I’ll live good, I’ll do something to please God and find favor with Him.
01:28:39
It’s like a four-year-old boy cutting his hair, putting all his money in the milk or the offering can so his hair grow back. Listen to me carefully. You and I can’t do anything more. Nothing more.
01:28:58
to get God to love us more than he already does. You’ve gotta understand, when you come to God, it’s not about, well, I’m gonna get cleaned up, straighten out my act, and then God will love me. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That’s like saying I’m gonna take a shower, I’m gonna clean up before I take a shower. Like, what’s the purpose? You can’t.
01:29:22
You’ve got to understand that God loves you, values you, and has extended his grace toward you while you were still a sinner.
01:29:35
I love what Romans chapter five tells us, but God commended or demonstrated his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. You realize Jesus died on the cross for you before you were ever born, fully bearing every sin you would ever commit. So why would I wanna come to God? Why would I wanna live for God? Why would I wanna give to God? Why would I want to serve God? Not because I need favor with God,
01:30:05
favor with God because he loved me so much that he gave his life for me before I could ever do anything about it, any change. I couldn’t even change myself, but he changed me. So here’s what I want you to get in this story. Notice Abraham offers up his only son. God offered his only son.
01:30:33
altar of wood there’s fire in one hand a knife in the hand in the hand of who the father Abraham you know what the fire was to burn the altar and the body of Isaac but do you know what the fire there represents it represents the judgment and the fury the wrath of God
01:30:57
And that knife in his hand represented the one who would take his own son’s life. Do you realize that when Jesus hung on the cross and he hung there and in his final moments, he looks into heaven and he cries, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? The very reason of that was because God had poured out his fuel, full wrath and fury on Jesus on the cross.
01:31:26
The beatings, the blood, that was bad enough. But then for the Father to look at all the sin and the shame, my sin, your sin, our shame on Him, and the Father turned His back from that because the Father’s holy, and now His Son was covered in sin, not His sin, but our sin.
01:31:50
You say, well, why would God do that? I remember when I first started studying the Bible and I would read that in the Bible, I’m like, why would God turn his back on his son? And it almost made me think, God seems so mean until I understood that God would rather have turned his back on his own son than to turn his back on us.
01:32:15
God loved us enough that he was willing to pour out his wrath and his fury on his own son because his own son bore our sin. This is the part I don’t know if I’ve ever seen it until today.
01:32:33
God had told it, I think God will provide for himself a lamb. And he did. Just in that moment when Abraham raises up his knife and about to plunge it into the chest of his son, God stops him and says, no Abraham, now I know you fear God. Now I know that you supremely worship me, nothing else before me. How many of you know you can put family before God?
01:32:58
You can’t have maybe no you put money before God you put your job before God you put yourself before God God doesn’t want anything between you and him. God should be supreme in your life And that’s what he wanted to demonstrate to abraham. I want to be supreme in your life Nothing else. I mean his son think of how cherished his son was but he didn’t want anything Between him. Hey if you think that your career or you think your occupation or your family Should have a high place in your life
01:33:28
the highest. There should be And then the Bible says as he kill him, god says stop. Now, I want you to see this point. got we got the knife. We got the fire. But where is the
01:33:56
And Abraham says to him, God will provide for himself a lamb. And what you need to know about the Old Testament, the events that happened in the Old Testament were very real, historically real, absolute precise, and with precision. But what you’ve got to realize is when you read the Old Testament, everything in the Old Testament was pointing to New Testament.
01:34:25
Every from their sacrifices to the to their temple worship Everything was pointing to the cross It was pointing to Matthew Mark Luke and John and and the Jews for that part were kind of blinded to it They couldn’t even see it Their sacrifices year after year. They would have to sacrifice a lamb for the atonement the covering of sin It didn’t remove sin, but it covered it atoned for that sin
01:34:55
And so Isaac says, Father, we’ve got the wood, we’ve got the fire, we’ve got the knife, but where is the, where’s the lamb? And he says, God will provide for himself a lamb. And sure enough, he looks over in that thicket when God stops him, and there in that rose bush, or a thorn bush. Let me put it in.
01:35:19
would kind of bring it down to Texas over there in that mesquite tree. You ever been got a hold of my mesquite thorns? Them things are cursed. Okay. I don’t care what you think. They are horrible. You ever get bucked off a land on one or in one, you’ll understand that. Who they hurt. And he looks over and this rim is caught by his horns in thicket.
01:35:48
You remember I said everything in the Old Testament was pointing to the New Testament. Have you ever asked yourself why, for example, in Matthew chapter 27 verse 29, when they’d stripped Jesus of his clothes and they beat him up some more beatings to come and eventually would lead him to the cross on his back to Golgotha.
01:36:18
where they would eventually hang him. Have you ever wondered about seeing that passage in Matthew 27, verse 29, whenever it says, and they made a twisted a crown of thorns and put on his head?
01:36:33
Have you ever wondered, was that significant? Can I tell you, everything they did to Jesus was significant. Did you know that Galatians chapter three tells us that everyone who hangs on a cross, or on a tree rather, is accursed? You ever thought about where Adam and Eve caused or committed the first sin? You know that story?
01:36:58
Eve walks up, she meets a serpent, a snake. I think that’s crazy to begin with. I wouldn’t be talking to a snake. If I met a talking snake, I’m gone. But she meets a talking snake. It’s Satan. And what does she do? She takes fruit off of a what? A tree. And that cursed them. That brought sin, that act of disobedience. But she took from a tree.
01:37:24
And where did Christ die?
01:37:30
But that crown of thorns, you ever thought about that? The very symbol of the curse. God said in Genesis three, I’ll curse the ground with thorns and thistles. And there in Genesis 22, God was saying, my lamb will wear a crown of thorns.
01:37:54
When Jesus hung on the cross and you see that picture, that painting of him with the crown of thorns, or you read it real in the Bible, He hung there with the symbol of our curse, the curse of sin, around His brow. It poked His skin. It shed His blood. But what Satan didn’t know was that life was in His blood.
01:38:26
And you remember last week when you see, so you remember that crown and that lamb, God will provide for himself a lamb. For nearly 2,000 years, nearly 2,000 years from Abraham to Jesus. The Jews would make sacrifices, they had.
01:38:51
Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy including Genesis. There’s five what we call the Pentateuch all written by Moses books of the law and then all the prophets who prophesied to Israel the judgment that would come for not keeping the law all That because of sin and the curse all of that
01:39:15
Those generations of Jewish people were saying when is the messiah coming? When is the promised one that you said would redeem us from the curse? And you remember last week how many of you were here last week? Just take up your hand a few more it’s okay, but you were here last week. So you remember last week when I was preaching through the books of the Bible the Old Testament and I said when you come to Malachi, Malachi you get there and Malachi is the last prophet and then if you look in your in your Bible between Malachi and Matthew
01:39:45
happens you go from Old Testament to New Testament, Old Covenant to New Covenant but there’s a blank page there in most Bibles and that blank page represents 400 years that God did not speak. God had been speaking to the prophets all those years and then Malachi speaks and he writes down his prophecy and then boom!
01:40:05
God is silent. And you can imagine that Israel, the Jewish people, the Hebrew people began to wonder, will God keep his word? God made that promise to Abraham. God’s made it to us. Will God keep his word? Will God provide for himself a lamb year after year after year, they would make that pilgrimage to Jerusalem. They would take that little lamb. They would walk it into the area that they would make the sacrifices
01:40:35
the priest would confess their make confess the sins of the and then he would take a sharp throat of this lamb and while would catch its blood in a basin jerk and quiver as the last body until its heart quit a real picture of this.
01:41:04
And then that priest would take the blood of that lamb with a rope tied to his feet, he would enter into and he being the only one into the Holy of Holies. And he would apply that blood to the mercy seeker of the ark in hopes that God would be pleased one more year with the sacrifice of their lamb. But all of Israel wondered when will God
01:41:30
provide for himself a lamb. 400 years, God wasn’t even speaking. And then the Bible opens in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. John chapter one, verse 29. It’s about 430 years now. And John is baptizing converts.
01:41:51
followers in the Jordan and he looks up and he sees a shadowy figure coming on the horizon as that shadowy figure gets closer he recognizes Exactly who that is and as he gets close he says folks turn around turn around John chapter 1 verse 29 go read it and they turn around and they look and they see this man Standing there on the banks of the Jordan River and John makes the declaration That that all the way back nearly two thousand years before
01:42:21
ask father but where is the lamb and John answers that question because God always has the final word John says behold the lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world and that was Jesus himself standing there
01:42:40
In that moment, all of history’s questions had been answered. In that moment, all of humans’ anxiety and depression and war and death and the curse was about to be redeemed. And three and a half years later, he would go to that cross, wear the crown of thorns as a symbol of our curse, our sin.
01:43:06
and Jesus would pay the ultimate price with his life and die in our place. He was the lamb Isaac was looking for. He was the lamb John declared.
01:43:23
and coming one day when you read the book of Revelation, they will make their war, they will gather to destroy Israel and keep God, try to keep God from keeping his word. But when they look into that sky, the Bible says that eastern sky will split and here will come the Lamb of God. I promise you, I promise you, I promise you, God always keeps his word and God always has the last word.
01:43:52
And the word that God has for you today is that the man who hung on that cross was Jesus, the Son of the Living God, the Messiah. Who do you say that he is? Who do you say Jesus is? I say he was God’s Son. I say he was the lamb that Isaac was looking for. I say he was the lamb the prophets prophesied about.
01:44:19
I say he was the lamb that they made sacrifices hoping and waiting one day that what they were doing as a type and picture would appear in human form and he did. His name was Jesus and he’s a savior to the lost and dying world. Every person under the sound of my voice now or later, you’ve got to make a decision today. Who?
01:44:48
Do you say Jesus is? Do you believe that he was the lamb of God? And do you believe that he took your sin, took your place? By the way, the story don’t end there. He died on that cross, was buried, but he arose the third day. Interesting enough, and I may share some of this next week, but let me close it with like this. You’ve heard me say,
01:45:17
that the first thing that God ever gives you in this life is what? Breath. And the last thing you will give God, whether you believe in Him, trust in Him or not, is what? Your breath. You stand beside any person that dies anywhere in any circumstance, and the one last thing they do…
01:45:43
is breathe. I was listening to a human biologist the other day and he was talking about cause of death and many different, what we call causes of death. He goes, but the same cause of death is the same for every human being. It’s a lack of oxygen. You finally, you quit breathing whenever you can’t do that anymore, you’re gonna die. So the very last thing every person does no matter how you die is you quit breathing. Is it any wonder that when Jesus
01:46:13
hung on the cross. The Bible says, he looked into heaven and he said, in thy hands I commend my spirit, and he gave up his ghost and he breathed his last. He breathed his last breath so that you and I could have eternal breath because breath is life. Breath is life. And I have eternal life because of Jesus.
01:46:42
Would you bow your heads with me for just a moment?
01:46:47
How many of you in here today, and you don’t have to raise your hand, but Bill, would you come for me? You heard Bill sing that last song and he asked us all to pray, like if you need Jesus, he’s a healer, he’s redeemer, he’s a saver. He’s all of those things. But what is he to you? What is he to you this morning?
01:47:19
if you haven’t ever put your faith and trust and hope in Him. You say, what do you mean put my faith, hope, trust? Hey.
01:47:33
faith, my hope, my trust is that he was God’s son. I know that. I believe that. He took my sin. He wore that crown of thorns to show me that he was breaking the curse of sin in my life.
01:47:55
I want to be real, real, real, real with you this morning. Bill, just play for me, brother. Just keep playing. Just listen to me carefully. Have you ever wondered? Have you ever wondered why you struggle with that depression?
01:48:12
Have you ever wondered why you live with that anxiety?
01:48:18
Have you ever wondered why that addiction over and over and over draws you, just endangers you, you think you’re past it. It’ll put its hooks in you and drag you right back. Have you ever wondered why you’ve had to stand at the grave side of a loved one or friend and feel that awful sting of death?
01:48:45
Have you ever wondered why you’ve had to walk into a hospital and see someone you love suffer?
01:48:54
called a curse. It’s a curse of sin. It’s a curse of sin. But Jesus didn’t just come to save your soul, which indeed He will, but He came to redeem us and set us free from the curse. All those things that are plaguing your life, all those things that keep you bound up.
01:49:23
All those things that torment you.
01:49:28
That’s part of the curse. And Jesus came to set you free from that. So here’s what I wanna do. Just stand with me for a moment while Bill plays. If God speaks to you today, I’m not gonna coerce nothing, I’m not gonna force. If God’s speaking to you, you need prayer. My wife and I and several of us are gonna be right up here at the front and we’re gonna pray with you. If you need prayer today, you say, Jeff, I need God to break the curse in my life.
01:49:55
I just I feel like that’s where the Lord’s speaking to me. Maybe you’re struggling with something. Maybe maybe you don’t know Christ Maybe you need to be safe. Hey, they’ll be we’re gonna be glad to take about right here Just kneel with you and pray introduce you to Jesus if God’s speaking to you you come probably a place bill Go ahead and say
01:50:17
The curse of sin was broken at the cross. Have you received that? Have you trusted in Jesus? Have you given your life to Him? Have you cried out and said, God, I know I am a sinner. Forget what I deserve. It’s going to be hell. But I ask you to forgive me. To save me.
01:50:45
changed me. I turned from my sin and I received Jesus as the Lamb of God.
01:50:57
I found Jesus.
01:51:03
God speaks to you. You need prayer today. You come on at least. Many women are up here waiting to pray with you. We’re going to dismiss in a second.
01:51:18
Right, right, just enough, and a little
01:51:22
Don’t forget Wednesday night Bible study. Don’t forget this coming Saturday, team soaring practice. Be sure to get a bulletin before you leave.
01:51:34
I found Jesus. Come on and sing that with me. If you mean it today. Have you found Jesus? I found Jesus. Have you found him? Do you know him? Isaac was looking for him. Where is the lamb? John the Baptist said, Behold, the Lamb of God. He takes away the sin of the world. This is about our head, and you as your Jesus in your heart.
01:52:09
I’m a Saviour The Redeemer of all
01:52:18
Have a fine ro-
01:52:25
Peace.
01:52:43
Jesus
01:52:52
I’m gonna ask Bill to keep singing here in just a minute before he does. I know some of you gotta get going. If you did get a bulletin today, be sure and get one before you leave. These folks are gonna stay up here at the front and I’m gonna ask Bill to play just a little bit longer.
01:53:10
because I think there’s maybe somebody else needs to come. Maybe somebody else needs prayer today. They’re gonna stay up here for a few minutes after church, okay, and they’ll be available. And you can come up and talk to them in private and be glad to pray with you. But a couple of things before you leave, be sure and get a bulletin. On the back of our bulletins, you’re gonna see a QR code.
01:53:33
It dawned on me that we’ve got to become high tech rednecks. Okay, we got a milk can in the back for an offering, but I know some people don’t carry cash. And so we actually had a young man ask about this the other day and it dawned on us, hey, maybe we need to make that available. If you want to give an offering, you don’t bring cash, but you do electronically, whatever, you scan that QR code and give to the church, to the Lord that way, okay? So that’s going to be available to all the bulletins from now. Just look at the back, you can scan it.
01:54:03
a little bit easier. I appreciate Bill coming today. Hey guys, he’s got some CDs and caps back there and if you want to support his ministry please do that. Stop by. Hey guy, you’re going to be standing back there at the back at that table, right? Yeah, he is, all right. He’ll be standing back there. We got plenty to…
01:54:25
You just get back there and get a cap or a CD and support bills and ministry. Let him know how much we appreciate him coming. And then I didn’t bring my magazine up. Is that Judd back there?
