20240811_IshmailToSarahDeath

[0:01] Geographically, where are we? We're in the land of Moriah.

[0:15] Right? See, I say right because it sounds like... I want everybody to agree with me. We're in the land of Moriah, and what are we about to do?

[0:33] Offer a burnt offering. Of what? The son. Isaac.

[0:45] And not just any son. The only son and the son of promise. Yes. And Abraham's going to kill him.

[1:03] Now, we know from Hebrews what? What did Abraham believe? That God would raise him from the dead. So when he leaves the young men, he cites the...

[1:17] This is where we stopped. He cited the hill. And he said to his two young men that were with him, his servants, Wait here.

[1:35] Until... You're going to go word by word. Until we return. We're coming back. The lad and I will go over here, and we'll worship, and then we'll come back to you.

[1:54] That's a big deal, isn't it? So Abraham believed that... Well, and it is on this basis...

[2:07] Abraham's called the friend of God. He believed what God said, didn't he? To the point... He didn't believe like I sometimes do.

[2:21] How many years since God first talked to Abraham is this all? He's about... Isaac is about 15...

[2:34] 15, 16. So it's roughly 20-some years. Roughly.

[2:46] Very roughly. Okay, so we're ready to with verses 3... Read from verse 3 and get a picture of where we're going here.

[3:02] Now, it's already been said this morning. I'm going to ask again, see if we listened. And... Rob already told us.

[3:15] Isaac is being offered as what? A burnt offering. Okay? He's being offered as a burnt offering.

[3:25] A complete offering. Now, that will play into part of the metaphor or the type that we get into.

[3:37] So, they traveled about three days, right? They traveled three days and he saw it afar off. That must have been a long three days.

[3:50] I can't... See, that's beyond my kin. I... I... don't understand that. But, nevertheless, um...

[4:02] What is, uh... What happens now? Okay, he lifts up his eyes.

[4:17] He says, we're going to go worshiping and come back to you. And then what happens? Okay, he...

[4:27] he puts the wood upon Isaac's back. Abraham takes a knife in the fire and off they go.

[4:44] Now, on the way, Isaac asks a question. Hey, dad. What is it?

[4:59] What's the question? Where's the offering? He said, behold, the fire and the wood, where's the offering?

[5:11] And what's the answer? God will provide the offering. God will provide the offering in one way or another. Now, he didn't say that part recorded, but we know what he's thinking.

[5:30] And, um... So, now we come. This is Abrahamic. This is prior to the law, right? Well prior to the law. Over 400 years prior to the law.

[5:44] It's... It's... And it's... much more than that prior to our dispensation.

[5:56] In this dispensation, what sacrifice do we have to make? It's a trick question. What?

[6:09] What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? What? Okay. The answer was none, providing it's a sin offering.

[6:23] Go to Romans chapter 12. You knew this was coming, right? This was the trick. Romans chapter 12. You know these verses, but we're going to look them up anyway.

[6:41] Now, this is written to save people, right? This is to the church. So, what's my sacrifice as a Christian?

[6:55] Now, let's be fair about this. I'm going to back up a second here. You're right, but I'm going to back up a second. I frequently use this at Mount Moriah, this offering of Isaac, as a picture of what?

[7:19] Christ, God providing the sacrifice, right? Now, in order to be fair about that metaphor, and I think the analogy works there, but in order to be fair about it, I have to recognize, he was not called to offer a sin offering.

[7:37] He's called to offer a burnt offering. They're not the same. The sin offering was not the same. The burnt offerings were offered frequently as a whole sacrifice to God.

[7:51] A complete giving over. But, he's not told to offer Isaac in place of his own sin, is he?

[8:05] I have to be fair about that part. It still works very nicely, though, for a picture of Christ. Who carries the cross?

[8:16] The sacrifice. And for whom? It was a substitution for us, for me.

[8:31] My sin. While I was God's enemy, he sacrificed himself for me. That's amazing grace.

[8:48] He did not offer himself because I was good. He offered himself because I wasn't. And I couldn't be.

[9:01] Anyway, back to this point. So, back to Romans now. As a Christian, I offer no sacrifice for my salvation because I can't offer the sin sacrifice.

[9:15] That's been done. And it's been done in terms of history. What's God say? It's been done eternally.

[9:27] It's finished. It's done. There is no, in Hebrews, no sacrifice for sin. Sin remains.

[9:38] There is no sacrifice for sin remaining other than what Jesus did, right? Is that not so? That is so.

[9:50] And so, I can't work my way in. But, now let's go to Romans. Chapter 12, verse 1.

[10:01] You know these verses. Therefore, because of what God's done, what? Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service, it says in King James.

[10:28] your new American standard says your spiritual service of worship. Mmm. Because the Greek word is logical.

[10:43] Logikos, if I could pronounce it that way. And by the way, worship, or which is your reasonable service, that word, yes, Roger?

[10:55] Is that being connected to the teachings to the teachings? Go ahead and give us that. Okay.

[11:10] That's coming. That's coming in the next verse, by the way. But, yes, it is connected that. Now, we'll get to so present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, set apart, to whom?

[11:35] God. Now, can I earn my way? No. But what should, but what should I do?

[11:48] I should, and I know I'm truncating this, because if you go through the rest of that, and through Colossians, and through Ephesians, you're going to get a whole lot more thorough picture about what all that means.

[12:04] Nevertheless, I should reckon myself dead to sin, and alive to good works. Right? That is, it's what brings glory to God.

[12:22] You take the toolbox of your life, and you move it from the world over to God. That's what he's, that's where we're going.

[12:36] So, holy, acceptable, unto God, which is your logical, by the way, that term, that word service in your King James, and worship in your New American Standard, I think that's what it says, spiritual service of worship, or spiritual worship, something like that.

[12:58] Yes, Steve? Can living for Christ be mistaken for works? We're going to get to that. So, don't lose that.

[13:10] We're going to get there. Because, the church sometimes talks good works, and we confuse it with what the scripture shows as good work.

[13:23] So, let's go back. That term for service bears some explanation, too.

[13:36] the word is the word from which we get English liturgy. That's interesting. I looked up the worship.

[13:50] It's the, which comes from the Latin liturgeo, or liturgica, or something like that. Liturgia, which comes from the Greek, which is from the word letruo, or the service word.

[14:13] So, basically, what he's saying here, I think, is, look, Roger, if you want a real, thought-out liturgy, this is what it's going to look like.

[14:25] you're going to present your body a living sacrifice to God. Okay. Which is your reasonable service.

[14:38] Now, what's, yes? I don't know that, but what is liturgy? Liturgy is the, we don't call it a liturgy.

[14:52] You would hear that mostly and Catholic and Lutheran and Episcopalian and high church kind of thing, but really, it's what we do in order.

[15:04] You know, we get up, we're going to sing, we're going to pray, we're going to, that's the liturgy. We're going to share communion this morning. That's part of our liturgy.

[15:15] That's, yeah. We would call it an order of service because we don't want to be confused with high church. but really, that's what it is.

[15:25] It's how do you function in your worship? And he's saying, this is how you do it. Yeah, constant.

[15:36] In my Bible, present your bodies, I've got constantly yield to your bodies. Yeah, constant. This isn't a one-time thing, but it, but it is, it is an action.

[15:54] He's not saying be passive about it. This doesn't just automatically happen. He's saying you do this. The, the, the, the, or the, the sense of the word is an active.

[16:11] So, when you see somebody on the road and you don't say, do well and go on, try to help them. Well, we'll get to that. We'll get to that.

[16:23] But, because that's been brought up otherwise. What do you see as a problem with this part, this verse one in Romans?

[16:40] My digression is taken longer than I, in my imagination. Well, one thing, I've heard it said, the problem with the living sacrament, sacrifice is, it keeps crawling off the altar.

[16:59] That's the constant thing part, right? I keep crawling off the altar. I thank God for grace. I thank God that I can't earn it.

[17:14] That he has done it. So, but how do I, how can I keep presenting my body a living sacrifice?

[17:27] Verse two. I have to change my mind. I have to change. I quit thinking like I thought in the world.

[17:38] I don't listen to the things of the world. I don't listen to the things of the world. And I don't mean the, the perversities. Certainly, I don't listen to the perversities.

[17:48] Okay. But neither do I, should I listen to the philosophies and the logic of this age. that's where Paul writes to the Corinthian church in first Corinthians and he says, look, the Greeks are going to say you're stupid.

[18:12] The gospel's foolishness. But it isn't. Because the foolishness, and he uses a hyperbole. The foolishness of God, were it possible, is wiser than the wisdom of man.

[18:33] So, it's hyperbolic because God cannot be mistaken, right? We know that. He can't make a mistake. But, imagining that he could, he says, look, the worst day God ever had is better than your best.

[18:54] Right? Better than the best of the best. So, that's where we are in this dispensation.

[19:05] Let's go back to Genesis. Oh, by the way, the good works thing. The good works. When we read in the scripture, especially as you read through Colossians and Ephesians and, and even in Galatians, the good works has to do with, with really behavior, my behavior, and the way I, I think.

[19:34] Those are the good works. Now, it doesn't preclude helping the guy on the road. It doesn't stop me from doing that. it doesn't stop me from feeding hungry people or clothing naked people or alms.

[19:53] It doesn't stop that. But that's really not the good works. That's kind of the good works some of us, some of the church gets caught with.

[20:06] Okay, we do good works means we start hospitals and we do this and we do that. And those are wonderful things, but that's really not exactly what he's talking about when he's saying good works. When we're saved to good works, he's talking about the behavior in the church.

[20:20] He's talking about, Roger, don't, don't, be argumentative. Don't be contentious. Be forgiving.

[20:34] Love one another sincerely. Sincerely. Do good work as far as slaves obey your masters, right?

[20:45] Do good work. Work diligently with your hands. Strive to lead a quiet life and mind your own business.

[20:59] Those are, husband, Roger, love your wife. Those are the good works. Those kinds of things.

[21:12] Now, it doesn't, like I said, it doesn't preclude helping people outside the church, but that's not specifically what he's referring to.

[21:26] It is an opportunity to witness and and it's a decent thing to do. It's a decent thing to do.

[21:39] When I was a boy, we, when I was a boy, we rarely saw anybody working the fields on a Sunday. Even though they didn't go to church, they just didn't do that or at least not many.

[21:55] I rarely saw it. So, we're driving home from church one Sunday and here's a guy that was hauling a load of hay and it, the corner fell off.

[22:08] You've never had that happen, have you? The corner fell off. It was loaded a little loose, you know? Going a little fast. And dad stopped and helped him put it back on.

[22:23] You know, he, and in those days he wore a jacket even in the summertime. He took his jacket off, took his tie off, he loaded the wagon. Three, four, five.

[22:41] I still remember that. Made an impression. It was important. So, those are good things to do, but they don't stop there.

[22:54] Doing, I can load 50 wagons, well I can't, but let's imagine that I'm 30 years ago. I can load 50 wagons of hay and that still won't be good works that the scripture's talking about.

[23:12] That'll be a nice thing to do to people and we call it good, but that's not what the scripture's talking about saved unto good works. He's talking about how does the church behave.

[23:24] Yes. Right. That, that comes with, and specifically that comes with my job, doesn't it? Not as men pleasers, but as though you're working for Christ.

[23:39] He knows to do good and does not do it for that being in the sin. Right. Now that, that's what I find myself in. Every time I see something, should I do that?

[23:53] You know, is it within the realm of what Christ would have me do? Yeah, and we do have to be careful with that because the context of that is a specific context about the thinking and the behavior and a context in dispensational, there's a dispensational context involved in that.

[24:19] But in terms of sin, that, that is always a missing of the mark.

[24:31] It's not always a rebellion against God. It's any missing of the mark. So, I redefine them and I call them mistakes.

[24:47] I redefine it, you know. That's just the way I am. Okay, I've got to get to, I've got to get back to Genesis, sorry.

[25:03] Abraham's waiting. Now, again, to be fair, Isaac is to be a burnt offering.

[25:15] He's not a sacrifice for sin. However, it is somewhat typical of what Christ has done for us. And we call that a substitution.

[25:28] See, just as God is going, yeah, I'm jumping ahead, but we're going to do it anyway. Just as God substitutes the ram and the thicket for Isaac, he substituted Christ for me.

[25:49] Right. only, I said just as, but it's a lot bigger than the ram and the thicket. It's a lot bigger than the ram and the thicket.

[26:04] Ezekiel 18.4, and I'm going to take these a little out of order, God gives a picture to his people about lives.

[26:23] And he said, behold, how many souls are mine? All souls are mine. The father's is mine and the son is mine.

[26:37] And now finish that. The soul what? Shall die. remember Adam.

[26:49] On the day you eat of it, know this, you will die. Satan says to me, did God really say that?

[27:11] Yeah, did God really say that? Now, if you go to the law then, the Mosaic law, Leviticus chapters 4, 5, and 6 talk about the sin offering and how that's to be handled by the people of Israel in order to not die.

[27:32] Right? So, you look at that now. we know it all through the writings of Paul and I will include in that, I think, probably Hebrews, but where is the full atonement made?

[27:56] where is the one and only sacrifice for sin made? On the cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ.

[28:11] Right? He's the only sacrifice for sin that remains and that is the complete atonement.

[28:22] that doesn't just hide the sin that, what's he say? Takes it away. Therefore, it's no longer I that sin, but sin that dwelleth in this body.

[28:40] Who shall deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ. Right? Amen. That is a wonderful salvation.

[28:52] That's why the hymn writer says, full atonement. Can it be? Guilty, vile, and helpless we, spotless lamb of God was he.

[29:15] Hallelujah. What a savior. We have a wonderful time here, don't we? Recognizing.

[29:26] But, this is vitally important. There will be people meeting today in groups. I pray that most will, but there will be some who will not acknowledge the substitutionary atonement of Christ.

[29:47] God will be lost. And without that, I'm still lost. You're still in your sin.

[30:06] I'm thankful for what Christ has done. Okay, now, let's complete the scene. We'll be at verse nine in chapter 22 of Genesis.

[30:19] Verses nine and ten. So, they go to the place. What happens? Abraham lays up the stones for the altar.

[30:33] What? He ties up Isaac. Now, Isaac's a young man. He's not a toddler. Abraham's not a young man.

[30:50] Now, I recognize that Abraham was vigorous in his old age. I get that. Nevertheless, there was an acquiescence there, probably, or it seems to me like.

[31:04] So, he binds Isaac, and he takes up the knife. It's easy to read. It's hard to imagine. It's easy to read, but it's hard to imagine for me.

[31:22] And then, what happens? Does he kill him? Keep going. Okay, and what's he say? Abraham, don't do it.

[31:36] well, he actually calls him twice. What's he say the second time? He what?

[31:54] Yeah, don't stretch your hand against him. What? And then what happens? right.

[32:09] Now, he, go ahead. God certainly knew.

[32:20] Yes. So, this was for Abraham's benefit. And mine. Yeah. The things that are written aforetime are for your instruction.

[32:32] He says. There are a couple of verses that talk about that. We are to study the things that are written aforetime for our instructions so that we may have hope in the scripture, right?

[32:51] And elsewhere, he writes, these things were written for you so that you won't do what they did. so, some of the things are written in scripture to help me understand, don't be murmuring against God, don't put God to the test, those kinds of things.

[33:18] Others are written like this to give me hope in the scripture because I see what God has done. And in this case it's a picture. Now, nevertheless, so, Abraham then raises his eyes and what?

[33:39] There's a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. Now, now, what did Abraham say to Isaac on the way up the hill?

[33:56] God will provide his sacrifice. Now, in this case, God provided the substitution. When Jesus goes to the cross for me, he is my substitution he gets no reprieve.

[34:19] He gets no reprieve. So, they return to the young men and go back where?

[34:41] Beersheba. And he dwells at Beersheba. Now, there seems to be a parenthesis coming in here or just an afterthought. Look at verses 20 through 24.

[35:03] Sometime after this, not too long after it, I suppose, I don't know, how long, somebody comes to Abraham and gives him some news.

[35:15] What is it? Yeah, you're an uncle.

[35:27] Hey, Nahor had children. Now, they name the children, or the scripture names the children.

[35:44] The scripture also names two grandchildren. Now, there will be one of those mentioned or figuring pretty prominently in scripture.

[36:11] Who is it? Rebecca. She's going to get to be pretty important, isn't she? Now, her brother is not mentioned.

[36:25] What's his name? Laban. Laban's her brother. He's not mentioned here, but he's also going to figure a little bit, because he's going to have a couple of daughters.

[36:40] And they're going to figure pretty prominently in the scripture, aren't they? Well, let's get back out of the time machine and get back to where we are. So, we are, okay, we have five minutes.

[36:57] We'll start. Look at chapter 23. By the way, Ron and Joy Scanlon are not with us this morning.

[37:11] They had a quick run to Chicago. Their daughter's not feeling real well and their son-in-law was called out of town, so they went up there to be with them for a little bit.

[37:24] Yes? Yeah, I don't know what we called that last week, but have you talked about the place where he went? Moriah? Yes.

[37:34] Yes. But this, the land of Moriah is an area, if it, remember this, the threshing floor that David purchased upon which he intended to build the temple was on a hill called Mount Moriah.

[38:05] And, though David wasn't allowed to finish it, Solomon built the temple, but it is, it is in the land of Moriah, which at least we're close to, if not at the exact spot, we're very close to what city?

[38:33] It'll later be called Jerusalem, it's called Salem, and Abraham's acquainted with a guy from Salem, Melchizedek, who is labeled as a type of Christ.

[38:53] The Lord has sworn and will not repent, thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.

[39:06] Okay. Yes. Yes. Okay, yes.

[39:23] It does say he died, right. So, there was a squabble in the grace movement years ago about it's not a sin issue when you die, it's a son issue.

[39:35] Did you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? And that was a mess. You see what I mean? I have heard that argument before.

[39:46] Do you hear that? Okay, in the grace movement a few years ago, there was a squabble over when you die, it's not a sin issue, it's a son issue.

[39:57] Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ? Go ahead. Yeah. And it really messed me up for a long time because he did die for my sins on the cross.

[40:09] Yes. And then you just said, if you don't believe on the Lord, you die in your sins. Right. So, is that true? Not if you, okay, if you, when I say believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, I'm not meaning believe that he existed.

[40:29] People who believe that God exists usually believe that he exists in their own mind in a fashion that they make him. Not necessarily the way he reveals himself in his word.

[40:43] And the same thing goes with Jesus Christ. Well, I believe in Jesus. How much of Jesus do I believe in? Yeah.

[40:54] Yeah. So, you believe in God. Satan believes in God and he trembles. Right? They know.

[41:07] When Jesus, I didn't mean, see what you've done. When, when Jesus, when Jesus went, wolf, and we'll get to that and I won't drop it but just in relation to the angels believe? When Jesus cast the legion of demons and they went into the pigs, what was their comment?

[41:57] What have you to do with us, son of God? They knew who he was. And it was bigger than that.

[42:09] Have you come to torment us before the time? They didn't even know that.

[42:29] Now, I was asked, why does Satan still fight God if he knows the end? I don't know. Other than he hates. But, you know, my small mind can't pick it up, but I know that I know that they know who he is and they know his authority and they knew he had authority to do with them.

[42:59] So, but back to the sin, son. At the great white throne judgment, are the Christians going to be there?

[43:15] No. If your name is in the book of life, you are not there. Who is there? All those whose names are not written in the book of life.

[43:37] The scripture does not say they were ever there. I can't prove that by scripture that they were ever there. You're going to demand that we get into this predispos...

[43:51] predestination business, but it does say what it says, and he says, those whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

[44:05] Okay. So, but God inhabits eternity and I only see history, right? So how that interacts, that's my disclaimer.

[44:16] I don't comprehend eternity. God does. In fact, he inhabits, he alone inhabits eternity. Can we say that you deny God to go to hell?

[44:30] Is that because the evidence is a great extreme? And so, is that not good? Yeah, anyone who doesn't acknowledge God is God and God has determined through the Apostle Paul, this is the message of the salvation of grace by faith.

[44:50] God has determined that it is in Christ that all this redemption will take place. So yes, those who go to hell have denied what God has said about himself and about Jesus Christ.

[45:07] I don't believe that's necessarily true. Okay. The reason I don't think it's necessarily true is you have notitial, essential, tradition.

[45:18] Yes. I've been placed on notice that there is a God. I assume, yes, there is a God. But I don't necessarily believe and accept him in my heart as my personal Savior.

[45:32] So I haven't said, no, he doesn't exist. I just haven't accepted him in my heart. Right, not in existence, but existence as he describes himself in his word.

[45:45] See, for me to say there is a God, the Muslim say Allah is God and they have their own version of what that means.

[46:00] But that is not the God as he describes himself in scripture. They believe in God, a God, but they don't believe in the God.

[46:16] And now, okay. The reason I have a problem with that is you just said even Satan recognizes there is a God.

[46:29] Yeah. So if he recognizes there is a God, he says, yeah, he exists, there he is, but he's not my personal Savior. And that's the piece that's missing. So what you said is if you don't accept Christ then you deny God.

[46:44] Okay, that... You don't necessarily deny him. You simply have not accepted him as your personal Savior. So that's why... I think that's a semantic dance that we're going through though, really.

[46:55] Because if I believe as Abraham believed God, if I believe what God says is true, then I'm believing about Jesus as my substitutionary atonement.

[47:12] Now, I cannot believe that Jesus is my only hope for salvation. I don't think.

[47:26] Jesus is your only hope for salvation. Yeah, but if I believe that, it's because I trust him for that. Maybe not.

[47:37] Okay, let's say that. I'll grant you that. Then what you have to do is say, I'm a sinner. That's where the confession of I'm a sinner, I need a Savior comes in.

[47:52] And you're my Savior. You're my only Savior. I need a sinner. I need a sinner. People have been burned and escaped. They're not... Yeah, well...

[48:06] The... Does anybody... Oh my goodness. I'm sorry.

[48:16] Does anyone know or does anyone have any of you beside Nathan seen a group on the internet?

[48:30] They have a YouTube thing going on. They call themselves the Babylon Bee. Have you ever seen it? I wish they weren't so prophetic.

[48:43] But... They have a great one on that whole burned at the stake business about the disciples saying, oh, we're going to talk about the resurrection.

[49:05] So am I supposed to read those? Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Yeah.

[49:16] And they're standing around and they're saying, oh, we're going to say that Jesus rose from the dead. We're going to announce this. And I forget which one says, well, what do we get out of it?

[49:29] He says, we get to get killed. We're going to get beat up. You know, we're going to be mistreated. All they had to do was say, all they had to do was say, hey, he didn't raise.

[49:49] And they would have been okay. See, I find that a very compelling argument, by the way, for the veracity of the scripture. I can be deceived, can't I, and believe something that's not true.

[50:04] I can believe something that's not true. I can even give my life for something that's not true. We see it all the time. However, for me to give my life for something that I know is not true is quite another matter.

[50:28] They gave their lives because they knew the resurrection was true. If Christ be not raised, you're hopeless, right?

[50:39] So, that's the idea. Okay. I was going to get to the death of Sarah, but we're going to have to kill her next week. Yep.

[50:55] God bless you. Have a great week.