Genesis

[0:00] With the Lord's help, I will venture to read the text you will find in the book of Genesis, chapter 22, verses 15 to 18.

[0:21] The book of Genesis, 22, verses 15 to 18. And the angel of the Lord called unto Abraham out of heaven the second time, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice.

[1:31] The 22nd chapter of Genesis, verses 15 to 18. There is much instruction in the well-known incident described to us in this chapter.

[1:56] And we are instructed in the earlier verses concerning God's direction.

[2:12] We may observe, too, of God's ordering. We remember that the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord.

[2:26] And he delighted in his way. And Abraham's steps were ordered by the Lord in this particular incident.

[2:37] Surely, we may conclude that it would never have come into Abraham's mind to do what God commanded him to do.

[2:59] And furthermore, he was not to do or perform God's command in any place. There is much instruction for us in this matter.

[3:15] Some may suggest that it doesn't matter where. I can worship God anywhere.

[3:28] They will not find support in the scriptures for such a statement. In one sense, it may be true.

[3:41] But with this limitation, where God is, where God commands them to be, there, they may worship.

[3:54] No other place will be acceptable to God. So, may we remember this point and be concerned that we may be in those places preordained of God, appointed by God, wherein we may worship him.

[4:19] sometimes, God directs his children to worship him in a special way.

[4:34] We may have the general attendance upon the means of grace. we may hear the gospel trumpet sounded forth week after week.

[4:49] And then it may be that God begins to speak to us and to bring us into a certain place, perhaps a condition of mind where he has appointed to convey a blessing, to impart a deep truth, to make known a revelation and to bring us to an occasion which we shall never forget.

[5:30] And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, that is, that he tried him and said unto him, Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest and get thee into the land of Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

[5:57] This is what we mean by God's particular direction as to place and time. And we may also notice the evidence of the grace of God in the heart of Abraham.

[6:22] It was because Abraham was loved of God. It was because he had the fear of God in his heart put there by the Holy Ghost.

[6:37] It was because he had faith in exercise that God had given to him in the first instance that God gave this command that there might be an exercise of that faith.

[6:55] And if God has blessed us with his fear, given us this faith to believe, then both of these blessings from God will not be shut up.

[7:14] They are given to us that they may be used. We may have, by the way of illustration, many a useful tool and yet have no occasion to use it because the circumstances requiring its use have never presented themselves to us.

[7:43] But if God imparts to us his grace and grants us the fear of the Lord, which is an unctuous light to all that's right and about to all that's wrong, there will not be such things as I put away as it were in the store cupboard, waiting for some opportunity when they may be used.

[8:13] God gives these graces to his people only because he intends that they shall be used. and as they are used, so they will become the brighter.

[8:33] But then they shall not be used anywhere. And the faith and the fear of God, which was in the heart of Abraham, was to be particularly manifested in a certain place at a certain time.

[8:54] And it is good for us to consider this in relation to our own experiences. Sometimes we may be concerned that our graces, if we have them, and sometimes we may wonder when they will be exercised, when they will be used.

[9:30] We can assure you that God will use them and he will use them when he will and at what place he will.

[9:48] And in this particular case, we tell, God tells Abraham to take his son Isaac, and this son was a precious gift from God.

[10:05] Every child is a precious gift from God. God is a blessing. A point which is often overlooked today, the world often seem to indicate that children, instead of being a blessing, are a nuisance.

[10:29] But may God give you much grace to consider any children that may be given to you as God's blessing. the psalmist speaks of it in one of the short psalms, and he himself regarded it in that most blessed light.

[10:53] Thy children shall be as olive plants around thy table. But in Isaac there was some greater significance.

[11:10] And that significance was this, that God had reposed in Isaac a blessing, a particular blessing.

[11:27] God had said unto Abraham in Isaac shall thy seed be called, that it shall be a spiritual seed.

[11:42] I have known one or two of God's people whom God has blessed with a persuasion, not merely wishful thinking, but a clear persuasion that God will call that child.

[12:13] And if any of you have known anything about it, or even been able to observe it by someone that you may know closely, you will know how tenderly that child has been watched over, how carefully that child has been looked upon, because when the person looked at the child, his child, or her child, they saw in that child the promise of God.

[12:49] They saw in that child the word of God. child the object wherein God's power was to be manifested.

[13:03] so you can imagine perhaps, if it hasn't been your personal experience, the anxiety that you may sometimes have when according to the look of things everything has gone contrary.

[13:29] Everything has gone adrift, there's one case which is vividly in my mind just at the moment, the anxiety of the father when his son, to whom he had a hope from God, in connection with whom he had a hope from God, was seriously ill, and God's promise had not been fulfilled.

[14:01] he hadn't been manifest as the vessel of mercy that God has spoken to his father about, the anxiety, oh the anxiety.

[14:17] But in this case of Abraham and Isaac, there's nothing like that. There's no bringing down to death's door by sickness, illness, there's no ailing, there's no apparent danger, and yet all these things culminate and proceed from one command of God, take thy son, thine only son Isaac, and offer him up.

[14:59] And that meant that the very person in whom resided the ultimate promise was to be slain.

[15:16] Nevertheless, Abraham rose up early in the morning and sat with his ass and took two of his young men with him and so on. And he went.

[15:30] What a blessing when the grace of God, at the commandment of God, moves and does not dally.

[15:45] And Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here and with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder and worship. But he had to lose a lot.

[16:01] His very hope was being sacrificed. But he came to God to worship. May we remember what Job says.

[16:14] The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord and shall we not receive evil?

[16:32] That is adversity. And maybe we've lived long enough, some of us have, I known, to discover this, that good and adversity coming from God will alike have a blessing in them.

[17:00] And then we may notice this special conversation between Abraham and Isaac when they were alone. you see the two young men had been left behind and these two, father and son, were going up to worship.

[17:25] And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, my father, and he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

[17:42] father and son will not forget such an experience, a conversation so full of spiritual import.

[18:00] And maybe Isaac remembered the blessed answer from his father, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

[18:13] So they went, both of them together. And then we read about God's Abraham building the altar and laying the wood in order and binding Isaac and laying him on the wood and then stretching forth his hand.

[18:35] taking a knife was about to slay his son. And this was all under the power of the grace of God.

[18:51] As God brought us to the same point in our lives, to give up our dearest possession, because God commanded us to.

[19:05] were we willing to forsake our comforts, because the interest of God must come first? Is this what it meant when God said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you?

[19:31] And Abraham couldn't do anything else. And the fear of God in you will impel you to follow God's commandment, whatever it costs.

[19:46] The flesh may plead strongly. Satan may say, you cannot do that. Perhaps your friends will say, your godly friends will say, this is going too far.

[19:59] God is a commandment, but the command of God in the soul is a ringing command, and the fear of God communicated to the soul can only listen to God's command, and that command must be obeyed.

[20:24] what does he convey to us? The fear of God in the soul will always recognize God as the God of love.

[20:43] Will always recognize God as the God of truth. He is not a man that he should lie, or the son of man that he should repent, and it will also recognize God as the God of ability.

[21:04] So we read the apostle's commentary when he said that Abraham hoped against hope.

[21:16] What a struggle. And he believed that God was able even to raise Isaac from the dead. The promise of God might be fulfilled.

[21:35] And what is there said is perfectly true. Do you believe that if God puts his promises into the fire, into the fire, into the fire, into the fire, the possibility of their being fulfilled are not only remote, but they can be written off.

[22:04] But is there that in your heart which says, I'll still believe. I'll still believe in God that he is able to perform his promise, promise, even though he appears to have removed the vehicle through which I expected that promise to come.

[22:25] Yea more, since God has named the vehicle, I verily believe that if he destroys it, he is able to resurrect it again. So, we have some little inkling of the exercise that was in the heart of Abraham.

[22:51] Few can understand spiritual exercise. The ungodly, mere professor in religion, knows nothing about spiritual exercise.

[23:04] because spiritual exercise has this point about it. It has a great anxiety for the glory of God. I hope we may say that we're often concerned about the glory of God.

[23:25] How much there is in religious circles, though the glory of God may be mentioned, the real purpose is the glory of man. God will again and again concern us that we may glorify God.

[23:47] And glorify God in the face of darkness and of opposition and of impossibility. As the hymn says, faith laughs at impossibilities and says it shall be done.

[24:02] Now there's some deep working in those lines. It's not as the natural mind would view it. It's not as striking up the shoulders and believing that somehow or other something will turn up.

[24:21] but it is a godly laughing at the impossibilities and looking up to God in faith and saying maybe Lord all things are impossible all.

[24:41] But thou hast said that which is impossible with men is possible with God.

[24:52] and it's that kind of faith that will laugh at impossibilities and say it shall be done.

[25:04] It is a faith that beholds the person of God, the glory of God, remembers that in Jesus Christ are hidden all the riches of darkness, the treasures of darkness, and God will bring them forth in due time.

[25:26] Did he have a trouble yet before and he refused to hear thy call and has he not his promise passed that thou shalt overcome at last? How many times in your life have you been concerned about whether you will overcome at last?

[25:47] No, remember it. Here is a place where faith will stand steady. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us more than conquerors.

[26:12] And then God speaks to Abraham out of heaven, and he says, lay not thine hand upon the land, neither do thou anything unto him.

[26:24] For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. God didn't have to do this in order to prove that Abraham feared him.

[26:44] it was God's work in Abraham's soul. He had communicated to him this blessed fear of God, which was the beginning of wisdom.

[26:57] God's work done. But can we say this? This very experience was to make it over to Abraham that he did fear God.

[27:17] Now, I know that thou fearest God. And does God bring into our lives certain trials? Maybe he has spoken this word, now I know thou fearest God.

[27:32] But what has really happened? God has shown to you that you fear God. That did not I, said Nehemiah, because of the fear of God.

[27:49] Can we say, that did I, sometimes because of the fear of God. The grace of God in my soul, so attached me to my God in love and affection, so produced a profound respect and reverence for his glorious majesty, that I wanted to do that which was right in his sight.

[28:20] God because of his love to me and the effect of that love in my soul that he has communicated to my soul, love to himself.

[28:39] This is what the fear of God does. It causes us to love God and at the same time gives us a knowledge that God loves us.

[28:55] And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.

[29:15] Now there was something much more in this, there's no doubt you are aware than the mere outside activity.

[29:28] There was very much more revealed to the faith of Abraham that God should have caused this ram to be caught in the thicket that instead of Isaac being sacrificed he should be unbound and the ram should be bound and the blessed revelation of substitution should be given to Abraham and to Isaac.

[30:02] Have you been the victim? Have you been concerned about your deserts in relation to your sins?

[30:17] Have you felt that you ought to be offered up? And yet that would have meant absolute destruction, it would have meant being consumed in the anger of God, when all hope that you would have been saved was lost.

[30:36] God said stop, stop, look here, the Lord replied, thy beauty is all in me, look here, for I am your sacrifice, I am the sinner's only hope, I am his gracious Lord, he's prefigured, no wonder Abraham, look forward to Christ day, and was glad, at this appointed place, not any place, but the appointed place of revelation, Abraham's heart rejoiced, because he saw a greater here, than the mere ram, he saw

[31:38] Jesus Christ, sacrificed, in his stead, a living sacrifice, Jesus was surely a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, God, and Abraham called the name of the place, Jehovah Jireh, that is, the Lord will see, or provide, or in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen, now I know this word, has oft times been applied to our providential circumstances, and we would readily recognize the importance of it and the value of it in those circumstances, but to have our faith fixed upon these words, the Lord will provide, or in the mount of the

[32:51] Lord it shall be seen, when we consider Jesus standing in the sinner's place, will be a remarkable provision, yes it is wonderful for us to see God's providential hand, but it is much more wonderful for the sinner to see God's delivering hand, hand, for the sinner to see the love of God so shed abroad, before his very eyes, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen, we may transfer our thoughts for a moment or two to Calvary itself, what did you see in that mount, in the mount of the Lord, Lord, it shall be seen that God here has provided a substitute, a substitute, a substitute, a substitute for what?

[34:03] To bear your sin away, to suffer eternal hell for you, to stand in your law, place and stead, and receive all the condemnation of the law that he could bring to bear upon you, the terrors of the law, perhaps people for the most part don't know much about the terrors of the law, and the terrors of the Lord, says Paul, on one occasion, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, and we may know in our measure a little of the terror of the Lord, how terrible he is out of his holy places, darkness, and may we think upon it, that Jesus

[35:15] Christ, the ever blessed son of the ever blessed father, bore the terrors of the Lord in complete and profound condemnation for your sin, that involved darkness, impenetrable darkness, darkness that could be felt, which the Lord of life and glory endured, oh we may well sing the words, behold, a scene of matchless grace, it is Jesus in the sinner's place, was a precious view, of Jesus Christ, he will mean something to you, if, you see, this in the mount, heaven's brightest glory, sunk in shame, that revels might adore his name, through tremendous clouds of wrath and dread, in vengeance pursed upon his head, ten thousand horrors seize his soul, and vengeful mountains on him roll, just think about it, dear friends, the Lord

[36:43] Jesus, the substitute, standing in your place and stead, he sighed, he groaned, he sweat, he cried, through awful floods, he passed and died, all penal wrath to Zion due, infinite justice on him throne, but then, there was something to follow, he rose in triumph from the dead, justice declared the debt was paid, then, Christ, with kingly grandeur flew, and took his throne in glory to, come saints with solemn pleasure trace, the boundless treasures of his grace, he bore almighty wrath for you, that you might all his glory view, well, we shall forget this evening, dear friends, if God has directed us to this place, to a mount in which we are to see the blessings of God's substitution, now, if it had not been for God's substitution, we must have sunk in our sins, we would have been consumed in the fierceness of God's anger, we could not have stood the trying day, but Jesus stood the trying day, and the angel of the Lord called unto

[38:33] Abraham out of heaven the second time, and yet it was all part of the same experience, he called unto him the second time, what a revelation had been given to Abraham, have we such a revelation given to us, that whilst we are pondering it, whilst shall we say we are standing by the cross, meditating upon the wonders and glories of the salvation of grace, in the person of Jesus Christ, that we should hear God speaking a second time, and he said by myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, by two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie, he had sworn by himself, two things, his name and his word, that cannot be altered, others, and here in this second speaking,

[40:05] Jesus, the angel of the Lord, called unto Abraham, and said by myself am I sworn, because he could swear by no greater, that in blessing I will bless thee, now this was not based upon the fact that Abraham had been so full of faith, if our faith is wrought of God, I believe we can say that we shall forget our faith, because our faith will remember so much what faith saw, and faith had a wonderful view here, for because thou hast done this thing, because by the grace and the faith that is given to thee

[41:27] Abraham, and thou hast beheld this wonderful work of God, hast rejoiced in the day when Jesus Christ would come and hang upon Calvary to put away your sin, because thou hast done this thing, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy stars, thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of thine enemies, now you see God was beginning to work out that which God had spoken to him sometime before.

[42:27] He had told him when he was sometime before that he would do this.

[42:45] Abraham was concerned in the 15th chapter we read about it after these things the word of the Lord came unto Abraham in a vision saying fear not Abraham I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward heart and Abraham said Lord God what will thou give me seeing I go childless and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus and Abraham said behold to me thou hast given no seed and lo one born in my house is mine heir now that looked a hopeless situation but it was as far back as that that God gave this promise that he would multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven so we may read it and behold the word of the

[43:45] Lord came unto him saying this shall not be thine heir are you looking at the situation as it is Abraham this shall not be thine heir but he that shall come forth out of thine own barrel shall be thine heir but the man was old his wife was old too but God as it were took him by the hand he brought him forth abroad and said look now toward heaven and tell the stars if thou shall be able to number them and he said unto him so shall thy seed be and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness and he said unto him I am the Lord that brought thee out of the

[44:46] Chaldees to give thee this land to inherit it now perhaps you will understand the words which followed and he said Lord God whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it now in Peter's epistle we read about the inheritance incorruptible undefiled and that fayeth not away and we might have looked at this word raised the same question whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it it is too great a matter to be left in the realm of hit and miss maybe or perhaps how shall I know well

[45:47] God gave the way whereby he should know he said take an ephra three years old and a she goat three years old and a ram three years old and a turtle dove and a young pigeon and so Abraham prepared an altar and then stood by and the fowls came down upon the carcasses and Abraham drove them away and when the sun was going down a deep sleep fell upon Abraham and lo in horror of great darkness fell upon him is this the way that we expect to walk to get God's blessings and he said unto Abraham in his deep sleep and in his great his horror of great darkness know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs and shall serve them and they shall afflict them four hundred years and so he goes on to tell him about the future but this is the seal this is the seal and it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark behold a smoking furnace from God and a burning lamp that passed between the pieces in the same day the Lord made a covenant with

[47:28] Abraham saying unto thy seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt unto the great river the river Euphrates it was through a sacrifice that his inheritance was confirmed and it will be through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ a revelation of that sacrifice to your soul that you will know that you will obtain the inheritance the inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee now it has been my experience that God's ways are higher than my ways his thoughts than my thoughts and you may well be mistaken if you begin to think about the way in which

[48:50] God is going to bless you and the way in which he is going to multiply you I've sometimes looked at those words concerning Isaac when he sowed his seed and it multiplied a hundredfold a hundredfold many people would be satisfied with double but God's multiplication was a hundredfold and if we go to the case of Jacob God promised to bless him and multiply him and Laban did all sorts of things in order to prevent Jacob's prosperity but it didn't make the slightest difference and if

[49:55] God gives you gives into your heart these words that in blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee it will come to pass and it will come to pass in spite of what you may feel in spite of what people may do you see people can't stop prosperity if God commands it because God has said I will bless you in blessing I will bless thee bless thee with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ it is a mercy if God blesses us with that grace to seek first the kingdom of God if we're able to do it we shan't boast about it we shall be absolutely amazed because we've been able to do it and we shall prove this that whilst we've been so engaged in this matter and perhaps people may say you're letting your business go well

[51:20] God doesn't let it go and may be that you have found what Abraham found that in blessing I will bless thee with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ and in multiplying I will multiply thee and God's multiplication can reach infinitude infinity and it shows to us the extent of this multiplication as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is upon the seashore and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed and this seed is Christ oh how much blessing there is in Christ for all spiritual blessings are stored up in him all his

[52:33] God's precious promises reside in Jesus a fullness resides in Jesus our head and ever abides to answer our need the great blessing which is foretold here and in thy seed shall all nations of the earth be blessed God's seed a spiritual seed Jesus Christ our savior our redeemer in whom dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead body may the Lord have mercy upon us and make something come out of our rambling remarks this evening to the honor and glory of his name and l best

[53:44] Mr. Collier will preach here on Monday next. Let us close with hymn number 125 He will be set in one.

[53:59] Let all the blood of peace come to his altar slain who give the guilty conscience peace all wash away the state. One hundred thirty-five tremend one.

[54:25] Come, man, tell the Lord every Ary day what o наблюд CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS

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[56:45] CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS CHOIR SINGS And the love of God and the fellowship of the eternal spirit abide with us.

[57:44] Amen.