Participants: John Dinzey
Series Code: ASHF
Program Code: ASHF000077S
|
00:03 ♪ ♪
00:18 Hello and welcome to Wednesday night Bible study. 00:22 Also Wednesday night prayer meeting sometimes called. And 00:25 welcome to A Sharper Focus. My name is John Dinzey. Pastor 00:29 Lomacang could not be with you today so I have the privilege 00:32 of spending this hour with you. Of course, we're asking for the 00:36 Lord's blessing. We're praying for the Lord to bless us in this 00:38 Bible study. We have a wonderful group of people that have joined 00:42 us here in Thompsonville Seventh day Adventist Church and by the 00:44 way, if you are in southern Illinois area we invite you to 00:48 join us at the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist Church 00:51 Thompsonville, of course, those that live in southern Illinois 00:54 know it's a very small town. It is route 149 where you find the 01:02 Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist church just before you 01:04 get to route 34 as you're coming from the West Frankfurt area. 01:08 If you're coming from the Benton area, of course, when you come 01:11 up route 34 you'll have to turn right on route 149 and drive 01:14 about what is it? Two miles or so. Less than that. Okay less 01:19 than that and you'll find the church on the right hand side 01:22 We are here Wednesday at 7 p.m. for the Wednesday night Bible 01:25 study and Saturday morning to join you at... and we ask you to 01:29 join us here at 9:15 a.m. where we have song service and we are 01:33 here praising the Lord, studying the Bible together, and you'll 01:36 hear the preaching of God's word here at the Thompsonville 01:39 Seventh-day Adventist church. Also we want to encourage you to 01:45 pray for the Thompsonville Seventh-day Adventist church. 01:47 We want to be a light to the community. And so we want this 01:51 to be a vibrant church that ministers to you. Today we are 01:56 going to study a very interesting topic I believe. 01:59 I have a difficult time finding titles but this one I entitled 02:02 The Ultimate Sacrifice. We are going to study the Bible 02:09 together. The Ultimate Sacrifice Now perhaps you've made some 02:13 sacrifice that you consider ultimate. So today we're going 02:16 to look into what happened when God called a man to do something 02:21 that seemed like the ultimate test of faith. But before we 02:26 continue we like to tell you how you can join us. There are some 02:30 Bible studies you can download at the website at ASF.3ABN.org 02:38 I'll repeat that. ASF that's for A Sharper Focus, ASF.3ABN.org. 02:48 for those listening to the radio we welcome our listeners from 02:51 all over the world. So there you can download Bible studies. 02:55 Pastor Lomacang is going through a Bible study series and then 02:58 you can download them and join in the Bible study. There is no 03:00 handout for today. Today we don't have a handout for this 03:05 particular study. However, it's a study worthy of our attention 03:10 so we want to go to the Lord in prayer right now and ask for 03:13 His blessing as we study His word. Let us join in prayer. 03:17 Our loving heavenly Father, we are grateful to you for your 03:23 goodness and mercy to us. Lord we little comprehend how great 03:28 is thy faithfulness, how wonderful is thy mercy. Many 03:33 have written about it and there is even a song that says Amazing 03:37 Grace. We thank you Lord, for you have made a great sacrifice 03:42 for us, a plan of salvation that reaches every human being in 03:48 the world. We pray Lord that as we study together our hearts 03:52 will burn within us as your Holy Spirit helps us to understand 03:56 the scriptures. We pray for your Holy Spirit to be upon 03:59 each and every one of us. I place myself aside Lord and pray 04:03 that you will be the one to speak, you will be the one to 04:05 lead us. And we pray Lord for those that have concerns here 04:09 present. They are concerns great and small. So we pray that you 04:13 will attend to each one. We also ask the same for our viewers 04:17 and for our listeners that join us during this hour. You know 04:20 their needs. Some are in great stress waiting for an answer 04:26 Lord. We pray that in the time that it is _ you'll bring 04:29 them the blessing they need. Give them strength for today. 04:33 Courage to go forward knowing that with you all things are 04:37 possible. We pray Father for these things in Jesus' name Amen 04:42 Well today we start talking about a man that God said take 04:48 up your household and I will show you a land where you're 04:52 going to be. We're talking about Abraham. He started out with the 04:56 name Abram and the Lord changed his name to Abraham which means 04:59 Father of many nations. And the Lord came to Abraham one day and 05:05 told him that he was going to have a son. And Abraham rejoiced 05:09 to know that he was going to have a son. Sarah also rejoiced, 05:12 his wife, but the promised blessing delayed in coming. 05:18 It was a test of faith. The promised blessing delayed in 05:22 coming and again the Lord repeats the promise. You're 05:25 going to have a son and he will be a father of many nations. 05:32 You're going 05:34 to be a father of many nations God told Abraham. There was a 05:39 delay and so the time came when Abraham and Sarah decided 05:42 perhaps the Lord will bring the blessing this way. Sarah 05:50 suggested that Abraham take as his wife who? Hagar. Hagar was 05:56 Sarah's servant, her handmaid, the Bible calls her and says 06:00 maybe through my handmaid the promised blessing will come. 06:06 Abraham consented to this and of course his firstborn son, his 06:15 name was Ishmael, was born. However, that was not what God 06:20 had said would happen. He said his wife Sarah would have a 06:25 child. Abraham loved Ishmael and he told God, Oh that Ishmael may 06:32 live before you. And He said no. It is the fruit of your loins 06:39 that will be your inheritor. So it was that upon the set time 06:45 the Lord visited Abraham. Three individuals came and told him in 06:51 the proper time, in about a year from now your wife is going to 06:56 have a son. They were already very old. Sarah even thought it 07:01 was impossible because the Bible says it ceased to be with her 07:04 according to the manner of women and she even laughed when she 07:07 heard it, How can it be? I'm already a woman that is old. 07:11 But with God, all things are possible. So her son was born. 07:19 What a joy Isaac brought to the family. It was the joy and pride 07:24 of the home. Abraham was very happy that through his wife 07:28 Sarah now he really had a son. His name, Isaac. Unfortunately 07:37 a little struggle showed up between Isaac and Ishmael. 07:41 Because Isaac was the little one Ishmael the bigger one and 07:46 unfortunately it was such that Sarah said, You must send this 07:53 woman away with her son. It was a difficult thing, 07:56 but Abraham did just that. 07:58 The Lord said to Abraham, Do as your wife has said. And when the 08:04 Lord tells do as your wife has said, what should you do? Do it. 08:08 There is big blessing in doing the things that the Lord says 08:12 for us to do. But I wanted to take you now to our study for 08:18 today. I'd like to invite you to join me in Genesis chapter 22 08:25 and verse 2. In Genesis chapter 22 we have here a very 08:32 interesting story. Abraham had failed God in not waiting for 08:41 the promised blessing. So I'm going to ready Genesis 22:1, 08:47 it's not going to go on the screen but it says... we're 08:51 going to pick it up on the screen with verse 2. It says... 09:09 I would like to bring out at this moment that it says that 09:14 the Lord did tempt. This is the King James Version that uses the 09:17 word tempt. However, it is a word that means tested Abraham, 09:22 proved Abraham. You may remember a scripture in Daniel 1 where 09:33 Daniel asked for a test to be made. He said prove us. And so 09:41 he was proved. That's the same word that is translated prove in 09:44 Daniel 1, it's the same word translated here tempt. So the 09:50 Bible tells us in James that the Lord does not tempt anyone. 09:55 But He does try our faith, to increase our faith, to help us 09:59 understand that we should rely and trust in Him and that God 10:04 is faithful. What He says he will do, He will do. So the word 10:10 nawsaw is the word tempt there and it means to test and prove 10:18 and to try. So you can see the same one in Daniel 1:14. Let's 10:27 take a look at that. It's not going to be on the screen for 10:31 the sake of those that are joining us. Daniel 1:14 we're 10:36 going to see the same word used. As we mentioned before in Daniel 10:42 1 you may remember that Daniel and his friends were taken 10:48 captive and they were offering them food that Daniel thought 10:54 was not good for him to eat. So Daniel approached the eunuch 11:00 and said give us pulse and water to drink, vegetables and water 11:06 to drink. And it says there in verse 14 that he consented to 11:11 them in this matter and proved them 10 days. And to continue 11:17 reading in verse 15, it says and at the end of 10 days their 11:20 countenance appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the 11:23 children which did eat the portion of the king's meat. So 11:28 this word proved is the same word used in Genesis 22:1 but 11:32 it used the word tempt. But we must understand that God does 11:35 not tempt people. He tests us for our benefit. He tries our 11:44 faith for our benefit. So now I invite you to join me in verse 2 11:51 of Genesis 22, let's go to Genesis 22 again if you have 11:56 Bibles we invite you to join us. You may want to write some of 11:59 these down. Of course, we're going to deal mainly with 12:03 Genesis 22 and onward and we're going to go to other places as 12:08 well. And now in verse 2, we have the following scripture: And He 12:14 said, Take now thy son, thine only son, Isaac whom thou lovest 12:22 We're reading from Genesis 22:2 and get thee into the land of 12:27 Moriah and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the 12:34 mountains which I will tell thee of. Kind of similar to the same 12:41 call that God made to Abraham in the beginning. So when you 12:43 look at Genesis 22:2 you will find something interesting. Look 12:48 at the way, God talks to Abraham. Take thy son, thine only son. 12:56 Question: Did Abraham have another son. Yes, we just talked 13:00 about it. He said he had another son named Ishmael. But why does 13:04 God tell him, Take now thy son, thine only son and then repeats 13:11 whom thou lovest. It is because God recognized Isaac as his 13:18 firstborn son from his wife. The other son was not recognized 13:22 because he was not the son of the promise. And He used the 13:28 words Whom thou lovest, he could have left that word out. Whom 13:32 thou lovest. And God was testing Abraham's faith. Notice that he 13:42 also told him go to the land of Moriah and offer him there for 13:47 a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee 13:50 of. In other words, he's going to the mountain but the Lord is 13:55 going to show him when he gets there which one is the one. So 14:00 at the present time, he could not tell anybody, we're going to 14:03 this particular spot. The Lord was going to show him later. 14:06 So now I would like to invite you to enter into the experience 14:14 of Abraham. What if the Lord told you take whomever you love 14:19 the greatest and offer that person as a burnt offering, as a 14:25 burnt sacrifice. What would you do? Very difficult thing. A very 14:32 difficult thing that Abraham had to face. And I would suggest to 14:36 you, had Abraham been faithful in the past, he wouldn't have to 14:41 to go through this difficult test. And I say this for us as 14:45 well, because there are things that happen in our lives where 14:50 the Lord will test our faith, test our faithfulness, that if 14:53 we are victorious, if we follow God in these things, we may not 14:58 have to face something more difficult later. Because we will 15:01 go trusting the Lord, our faith in Him will be solid. We may not 15:05 have to encounter something more difficult later on. And so 15:09 Abraham he receives the message. Do we have any evidence in the 15:19 Bible that he told anyone about what God had asked him to do? 15:23 No. Notice verse 3, let's go to verse 3:... 15:52 So there was no communication with Sarah. Imagine if he had 15:56 told Sarah. Sarah, God has asked something difficult. He has 16:03 asked me to go and sacrifice Isaac. Ohh. What would Sarah 16:09 do? What would Sarah say? I could hear her say NOOO, not my 16:17 son! It would have been something that would break her 16:23 heart. Now imagine this for a moment. It would have been 16:26 difficult, sad, a terror for Abraham and Sarah to hear that 16:32 their son was out taking care of the flock and some people 16:37 came and killed him. It would have been very sad. Or even that 16:44 Isaac was out there doing some things and some animal came and 16:49 tore him to pieces and killed him. It would have broken their 16:53 heart. But now God is asking Abraham, Take thy son, thine 16:59 only son and offer him for a burnt sacrifice. What did 17:01 Abraham have to do in order to offer him as a burnt sacrifice? 17:06 He had to take a knife and kill his son. So it was heartbreaking 17:14 to even consider what he had to do. But we see Abraham as you 17:19 read, he rose up early and went with his son. I can see Abraham 17:26 going to his son Isaac, Isaac get up son. We need to go and 17:31 offer a sacrifice to the Lord. You can see by the reading which 17:36 we'll come to later that Abraham did not tell his son Isaac, by 17:41 the way Isaac, you are going to be the one to be sacrificed. 17:45 That came later. Abraham couldn't bear the thought. So 17:50 let's go to see what happened next as Abraham went. So in 17:57 Genesis 22, now we go to verse 4, the screen may say verse 1, 18:03 but it's verse 4. And it came to pass after these things, I'm 18:11 sorry, verse 4, sorry. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his 18:18 eyes and saw the place afar off. So how many days? On what day? 18:21 On the third day. But wait. What happened the first day? What 18:27 happened the second day? It was a long journey and it was 18:34 calculated for Abraham to think about what he was about to do. 18:41 He had plenty of time. Minutes seemed like hours. Hours seemed 18:49 like days. It was a long, anguished and suffering that 18:55 Abraham was going through. Each step he came closer to the 19:00 moment when he would have to sacrifice his son. It was 19:05 difficult, very difficult. I imagine that okay let's go to 19:09 sleep. That first night, do you think Abraham slept? No. I 19:16 seriously doubt he slept. Probably when he couldn't stay 19:21 awake any longer he fell asleep. I see Abraham praying, Lord, 19:25 does it have to be this way? Remember Jesus in the garden of 19:30 Gethsemane. Lord, if it be possible, let this cup pass from 19:36 me. Nevertheless, not as I will but as thou wilt. I can see 19:41 Abraham struggling. Perhaps not in the same magnitude as 19:46 Christ, but he struggled with this thing. Cried at the thought 19:52 that his son would be dead. First day. Second day, the long 19:58 journey ahead. Getting closer and closer to that moment where 20:04 he has to sacrifice his son. Very difficult. So here the 20:10 scripture takes us to the third day. It doesn't tell us what 20:15 happened, but I'm sure Abraham struggled every moment he got 20:18 closer to the place where the Lord said, There is where you 20:22 will sacrifice. As we read in verse 3, he lifted up his eyes 20:26 and saw the place afar off. What do you think happened when he 20:32 saw the place. Somehow the Lord gave him a sign, perhaps a cloud 20:36 a bright cloud. Patriarchs and Prophets says there was a bright 20:40 cloud. And so he saw the place 20:43 I can imagine. I don't know how it is about you when you see 20:48 someone you hadn't seen for a long time. Haaa!. You're heart 20:51 rejoices. But when he saw this cloud, when he saw the actual 20:55 place his heart sank. Oh no. There it is. Let's go to the 21:03 next verse and see what happened In verse 6 of Genesis 22. And 21:14 Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering... I'm sorry we 21:18 skipped a couple of verses here. Let's go to verse 5. You may not 21:22 see this on the screen but let's go to verse 5. And Abraham said 21:28 unto his young men, Abide ye here with the donkeys and I and 21:35 lad will go yonder and worship and come again unto you. So 21:40 these two individuals did not know what Abraham was to do. 21:44 In verse 6, And Abraham took... I'm sorry verse 5. And Abraham 21:52 said unto his young men... I'm sorry. We read verse 5. They're 21:55 going to go yonder and worship. We must understand that Abraham 22:00 and his household they worshipped God. For some reason 22:04 he's tells them, you guys stay here. What do you think that was 22:09 Very good. Jesus told his disciples he told some of them 22:15 to stay here and we're going to go pray over there. Very 22:19 interesting parallel there. But Jesus chose three of his closest 22:27 disciples, but none of them could see Him struggling as He 22:31 did. Very powerful study in the garden of Gethsemane. So then 22:36 he goes with his son and an interesting conversation takes 22:42 place as Abraham and his son go together. Let's go to verse 6. 22:52 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon 22:55 Isaac his son. Isaac was very strong. That's Genesis 22:6. 23:01 And he took the fire in his hand and a knife. 23:19 We'll talk about that in a moment. 23:27 Where's the lamb, Dad. We have a fire, we have the wood, we 23:40 have the knife but where is the lamb father? That sounding of 23:47 the word father _. The question says he's bright 23:55 he's a young man, he's a teenager already. Abraham is 23:59 about 120 years old. And I will tell you that if Isaac wanted to 24:05 being that strong, he could have resisted the idea. But what does 24:11 Abraham say to his son? Genesis 22:8 tells us. And 24:19 Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a 24:28 burnt offering: so they went both of them together. There is 24:36 no evidence that Isaac said, What? The Lord is going to 24:40 provide one for us. Praise the Lord. So they walk together. And 24:46 again consider, every step was a moment closer to the time he had 24:52 to sacrifice his son. He could turn back. He could say, I can't 24:57 go through with this. I can't do it. This is my son, my only 25:02 son, I love him, I can't do this But Abraham went forward to 25:11 sacrifice his son. They walked together it says. When we 25:19 continue the reading it doesn't tell us that Abraham told his 25:25 son. But he had to tell his son. Son, I have some bad news for 25:33 you. It breaks my heart to tell you. God told me that you are 25:41 the burnt sacrifice. I can imagine his voice breaking with 25:47 sorrow and tears, tears flowing down his face as he tells his 25:50 son; Son you are the burnt sacrifice. Now Abraham had 25:59 taught Isaac to worship God, to love God with all of his heart, 26:04 with all of his soul, will all of his mind, with all of his 26:08 strength. There is no indication that Isaac resisted the idea, 26:13 that he rejected the thought. There is no indication that 26:19 Isaac said, Wait a minute father my whole life is before me. I'm 26:24 not even married. I would like to get married and have children 26:27 I have my whole life before me and you want to cut it short? 26:31 Are you sure father? There is no questioning Isaac. Abraham 26:40 loved his son. Isaac loved his father. Abraham loved God with 26:47 all of his heart, with all of his mind, with all of his strength. 26:51 Isaac must have loved God with all of his heart, with all of 26:57 his mind, with all of his strength. To yield to the idea, 27:00 to say okay father. If this is what God wants, let's do that, I 27:06 am willing. Difficult and we see the description here let's read 27:13 it in Genesis 22:9: 27:15 And they came to the place which God had told him of, 27:18 Genesis 22:9 and Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood 27:23 in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar 27:28 upon the wood. I would tell you that Isaac helped him build that 27:34 altar. Isaac helped him prepare everything and said okay father 27:39 let's go to the next step. They gave themselves the last embrace 27:45 saying goodbye son. I love you but this is what God wants. 27:52 Difficult. I'm not going to ask for a raising of hands how many 27:57 of you would be willing to do this because this is a very 27:58 difficult test. This is why we call it the ultimate sacrifice. 28:07 So the moment came when Abraham had to take the knife in his 28:13 hands. Let's go to Genesis 22:10 And Abraham stretched forth his 28:23 hand and took the knife to slay his son. Wow, I would say this is 28:33 great faith. This is why Abraham is called the father of the 28:36 faithful. I would say that if you take a thousand men, a 28:42 thousand women and offered the same test, how many would take 28:49 the knife and go through with what Abraham did. Very few in 28:54 number. Very few in number. Abraham did not question God. 29:00 It was something completely new, never heard of this before, 29:05 never heard of God asking this from anyone else in history and 29:11 Abraham said yes Lord. I will obey. Let's go to Genesis 29:21 22:11. I'm sorry. Let's go to the moment here. There's 29:28 something interesting that happens here. Because Abraham 29:31 has taken his knife and he's about to kill his son. Hebrews 29:35 11 shows something interesting about this experience. So if you 29:40 turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 11, we're going to read verses 29:44 17-19, Hebrews 11:17-19 and this is what the Bible tells us. If 29:52 you find it say Amen. Okay we have two witnesses so we can 29:55 go forward. By faith Abraham when he was tried offered up 30:01 Isaac. What does it say that he did? He offered up Isaac and he 30:08 that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son 30:12 of whom it was said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. 30:21 Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead; 30:27 from whence also he received him in a figure. Do you see what 30:35 the scriptures here are trying to tell us. In his mind, Abraham 30:40 went through it. He saw himself. Were you ever involved in 30:46 something and you see yourself doing what you're going to be 30:48 doing? Abraham saw himself killing his son. In his mind, he 30:53 was going through with it. Nobody's going to stop you from 30:56 doing this until the angel called out. And so, we see here 31:03 that apparently Abraham reasoned, Wait a minute, God 31:09 promised that through my son the blessing would come, that my 31:16 seed will multiply as the stars of heaven. Remember, the Lord 31:19 showed him the stars of heaven. This is going to be the amount 31:22 of children you will have, as the stars of heaven. And 31:27 according to the scripture it is as if Abraham understood God 31:32 said he promised that through Isaac it's going to be, and if I 31:35 have to slay him, sacrifice him God can bring him back from the 31:42 dead to fulfill his promise. He believed God completely. So I 31:49 praise the Lord for that. So we see here that in Genesis, this 32:01 is not going to be on the screen Genesis 22, we're 32:02 going to go in verse 11 and so we pick up the story there 32:06 to see what happened next. Genesis 22:11, if you've found 32:11 it say amen. Okay, Praise the Lord. And the angel of the Lord 32:16 called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham and 32:21 he said, Here am I. And He said lay not thy hand upon the lad, 32:26 neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou 32:31 fearest God seeing thou hath not withheld thy son, thine only son 32:38 from me. Verse 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked 32:44 and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns 32:49 and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a 32:53 burnt offering in the stead of his son. Abraham called the name 32:58 of that place, verse 14, Jehovah Jireh as is said to this day in 33:04 the mount of the Lord it shall be seen the Lord provided. Not a 33:10 lamb, a ram. Now it said that Abraham went to get him because 33:17 Isaac was bound. His hands were tied up. So when you read the 33:20 scriptures and it says now I know; did God know at that 33:25 moment, or did God know before? God knew before, but Abraham 33:30 didn't. And so God tests us knowing what is going to be the 33:35 outcome. It was for the benefit of Abraham that God said, Now I 33:40 know that you will not withhold thy son, thine only son from me. 33:47 So Abraham is called the father of the faithful, he offered up 33:53 his son accounting that God was able to raise him from the dead 33:58 to fulfill his promise. Would you say amen to that. Amen. 34:03 But I want to talk to you about another Father who also had to 34:08 make an ultimate sacrifice. So I take you to the cross and 34:13 there is another son, Jesus Christ. Because the Bible says 34:18 I'll put it on the screen. John 3:16. You know it by memory: 34:38 Interesting. Abraham was told take now thy son, thine only son 34:43 whom thou lovest. Question: Did God the Father love the Son. Yes 34:48 And He had to take His son, His only Son, whom He loved and 34:54 offer Him up as a sacrifice for us. Why? Scripture tells us: So 35:03 that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have 35:09 everlasting life. So I would like to take you to the cross. 35:12 Let's look to see what happened there. Just as Abraham had to 35:20 take a knife to kill his son, the Father had to do something 35:26 a little similar. And there's a hint given to us in Zechariah 35:30 chapter 13:7, Zechariah 13:7. It's one of those little books 35:37 sometimes hard to find, Zechariah 13:7. We have it on 35:43 the screen for you just in case you don't find it Zechariah 13:7 36:03 So you see that scripture that says: Awake O sword against my 36:11 shepherd. Did Jesus say I am the good shepherd and I give my 36:17 life for the sheep. So this scripture is giving us a hint 36:21 that God the Father has to strike the shepherd, smite the 36:29 shepherd. Why? It is because Jesus Christ took our sins upon 36:37 him and it is either you, me or Christ that has to die. Christ 36:45 became our substitute. Many of you know this. Christ became our 36:50 substitute, took our sins upon Him and died in our place. And 36:55 being in that condition in that category now the punishment that 37:03 I deserve now he is supposed to get. He suffered what I was 37:08 supposed to suffer. And so because he is now in my place 37:14 the Bible says the wages of sin is death, God the Father has to 37:19 exercise justice and He is the one that has to do this. Let's 37:24 look at some scriptures that will help us with that. 37:26 In Matthew 26:31, Jesus alludes to this scripture we just read 37:35 in Zechariah and notice what he says. Matthew 26:31: 37:55 So Jesus said this is the prophecy about me. So the Father 38:02 has to do that which was difficult to do. Just as it was 38:06 difficult for Abraham, it was difficult for God the Father to 38:10 do. Exercise justice. So we see here Jesus live a perfect life, 38:17 never sinned. The Bible says He was in all points tempted like 38:22 as we are, yet without sin. Jesus had a perfect hatred for 38:31 sin. Perfect hatred for sin. Never sinned. He has to then 38:37 open himself up to take that which he hated upon himself. 38:44 Wow! Because he loved us so much Let's go to Isaiah 53. We're 38:51 talking about the Father having to sacrifice his Son, having to 38:56 himself punish his Son in our behalf. In Isaiah 53:3, we're 39:05 begin reading in verse 3, Isaiah 53:3. So if you've found 39:11 it say amen. 39:44 So who smote Jesus? The Father struck him. Why? Because he took 39:56 our place. It is interesting that in different parts of the 40:01 scriptures in Psalms and Isaiah, Jeremiah, it shows you a little 40:06 bit of the experience of what Jesus went through. One of them 40:10 is Psalm 22 and Psalm 69. But we're going to look at 40:15 Lamentations chapter 3 because it communicates something 40:18 interesting to us and I think you can see something of the 40:23 experience of Christ in this scripture we're about to look at. 40:27 Lamentations 1:12. He's there on the cross, as he's on the 40:37 cross he's being mocked by people and this experience 40:42 mentioned in Lamentations 1:12 speaks to us about this. Notice: 41:08 By taking our sins upon him, Jesus Christ placed himself in 41:14 our place to suffer what we were supposed to suffer. So I am 41:22 grateful for that. Are you? I hope you are. Let's go back to 41:28 Isaiah 53. Hope those at home as well are grateful for what God 41:35 has done for us. Isaiah 53, now we go to verse 5. Isaiah 53:5: 41:41 It says... 42:05 the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Just like 42:16 Isaac did not resist, Christ did not resist. He took all that 42:23 suffering, took our sins upon him. At any moment he could 42:29 escape. But there they tied him and whipped him, viciously, 42:35 viciously, drew blood. There were little bones and metal 42:38 stuck on those whips. Sometimes they would attach bones, 42:41 sometimes they would attach little pieces of metal so when 42:44 they struck him it would break into the flesh and pull back out 42:50 At any moment he could say, Wait wait, wait, this is enough. He 42:53 went through all that for us. He could have escaped at any 43:01 moment. You remember sometimes they wanted to push him off a 43:03 cliff, and the Bible says, And going through the midst of them 43:06 he went his way. Even Jesus said himself at the garden of 43:12 Gethsemane, I could call angels to come to my aid. But he 43:18 willingly took all that suffering because of his great 43:22 love for us. Let's go to Isaiah 53:7. It says: He was oppressed 43:34 and he was afflicted, yet opened not his mouth. He's just trying 43:41 to tell us that he's not complaining about it. He's 43:45 willing to take the cross. He's brought as a lamb to the 43:50 slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he 43:56 opened not his mouth. No complaint. He had given himself 44:03 totally so that we could be saved. To this I say, Thank you 44:10 Lord, thank you Lord. Let's look at verse 10 of Isaiah 53, 44:15 Isaiah 53:10: Notice the words: Yet it pleased the Lord to 44:25 bruise him. He had put him to grief when thou shall make his 44:31 soul an offering for sin. He shall see his seed, He shall 44:36 prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall 44:39 prosper in his hand. So this scripture tells us that it 44:45 pleased the Lord to bruise him. In what way? I would say to you 44:52 this is one of those bitter sweet things. It was bitter that 44:58 he had to punish His Son, bitter. The Father suffered as 45:05 His Son was suffering. The pleasing or the joy is, remember 45:12 the scriptures say there is more joy in heaven over one sinner 45:15 that repents. This is the pleasing aspect of finally the 45:22 moment comes when the plan of salvation will open the door to 45:27 the whole world to be saved. Unfortunately, not all accept 45:36 and that is sad. I would like to invite you to go to Hebrews 12:2 45:43 for the Father, it was one of those bitter sweet experiences. 45:47 Bitter because his son had to die, bitter because he was the 45:51 that had to mete out the punishment, but sweet because 45:57 you can be saved; I can be saved In Hebrews 12:2 we read already 46:05 that Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and acquainted with 46:07 grief, but Hebrews 12:2 opens up a little bit the curtain to help 46:12 us understand how Jesus felt about this _. It says, 46:18 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith who 46:24 for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, 46:28 despising the shame and has set down at the right hand of the 46:33 throne of God. Did he enjoy being crucified? No! It was a 46:41 painful, horrible way to die. But there's more. It was not 46:49 just the physical suffering that made him suffer. There was 46:54 another aspect of suffering that sometimes is not looked at 46:58 because internally sometimes there's more pain than 47:03 externally. Have you ever had that happen? Internally more 47:08 pain than externally. Why? Because when he takes our sins 47:15 upon him, he is now in a different position in 47:19 relationship to the Father. He has taken sin upon him. In 47:26 2 Corinthians 5:21 it says that he became sin for us. So the 47:32 Father has to withdraw his immediate presence from the Son. 47:40 He doesn't leave completely but Christ could not see Him there 47:46 because He has to withdraw His presence because this is what 47:51 sinners will feel when they cling to sin, when they decide I 47:58 refuse salvation, I don't want salvation, I don't want eternal 48:01 life. I prefer sin and God has to withdraw and God is the 48:09 source of all true joy and peace. So Christ experienced 48:15 what sinners will experience when they receive the reward 48:21 for their sins. In Matthew 27:41-46 we are going to take a 48:27 look at what happened there. In Matthew 27:41-46 and I'd like 48:32 you to turn there in your Bibles. Matthew 27:41-46 we read 48:39 Likewise also the chief priests mocking him with the scribes and 48:42 elders said, He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be 48:49 the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross and 48:52 we will believe in him. Will they believe in him? No. He 48:59 trusted in God, let Him deliver him now if he will have him, 49:03 for he said, I am the Son of God The thieves also, which were 49:10 crucified with him cast the same in his teeth. Now from the sixth 49:14 hour there was darkness over all the land unto the ninth hour 49:18 and about the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, 49:24 Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my God why 49:34 hast thou forsaken me? This is a bitter experience to go 49:43 through that. The joy was that you would be saved, but it was 49:48 a bitter experience to go through that. This is why he 49:53 cries out, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He cannot 49:58 feel the Father's presence. He cannot see the Father. With sins 50:05 upon him he has to experience in totality what sinners will go 50:13 through at the end of time. I would like to read to you from a 50:19 book that will explain it better than I can. It's Testimonies to 50:26 the Church, Vol. 2, p. 210. Listen to these words: Christ 50:31 felt much as sinners will feel when the vials of God's wrath 50:35 shall be poured out upon them. Black despair like the pall of 50:40 death will gather about their guilty souls and then they will 50:44 realize to the fullest extent the sinfulness of sin. Salvation 50:49 has been purchased for them by the suffering and death of the 50:53 Son of God. It might be theirs if they would accept of it 50:59 willingly, gladly. But none are compelled to yield obedience to 51:05 the law of God. It's a choice. You can choose to follow God or 51:10 not. You can choose to obey God or not. If they refuse the 51:13 heavenly benefit and choose the pleasures and deceitfulness of 51:17 sin, they have their choice and at the end they see their wages, 51:25 which is the wrath of God and eternal death. They will be 51:34 forever separated from the presence of Jesus whose 51:37 sacrifice they had despised. They will have lost a life of 51:42 happiness and sacrifice eternal glory for the pleasures of sin 51:49 for a season. It is mind boggling to consider that. 51:55 People will choose sin for a short period of time compared to 52:01 happiness, peace and eternal life without suffering forever 52:06 and forever and ever. People will choose this little pleasure 52:10 over this huge indescribable joy indescribable happiness, life 52:17 without suffering at all, no suffering, not the least 52:22 hint of suffering. 52:24 They're giving all that up for the pleasures of sin for a 52:28 season. I hope there's nobody here in that category. I hope 52:32 anyone listening to this program is not in that category and if 52:36 you are, give it up and look to Jesus who can save you from your 52:42 sins. Amen. I tell you that God the Father suffered along with 52:47 the Son. Quickly we turn to Isaiah 63:8-9, a little example 52:53 of that, Isaiah 63:8-9. We're down to about five minutes. 52:58 Isaiah 63:8-9 notice what the scripture says about how God 53:06 involves Himself with His people For he said surely they are my 53:10 people, children that would not lie. So he was their Savior. In 53:16 all their afflictions he was afflicted. So God suffered along 53:21 with His people. And the Angel of His Presence saved them. In 53:26 his love and his pity he redeemed them and he bore them 53:30 and carried them all the days of old. So when God's people 53:36 suffered and were afflicted, in all their afflictions God the 53:40 Father was afflicted. And so I tell you in all the afflictions 53:44 of Christ God the Father suffered. Every nail pounded, 53:47 Every pound of the nail the Father felt it. Every strike 53:52 of the whip, the Father felt it. He is sensitive to the smallest 54:00 suffering that we suffer, and He suffers himself. Sometimes we 54:07 suffer needlessly because we do bad things to ourselves. We can 54:12 escape from suffering, we can escape the suffering that will 54:18 be for those who reject God. In 2 Corinthians 5:17-19, we have 54:31 these scriptures: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a 54:35 new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold all things 54:40 are become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled 54:46 us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the 54:51 ministry of reconciliation. To wit, that God was in Christ 54:57 reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their 55:02 trespasses unto them and have committed unto us the word of 55:07 reconciliation. So where was the Father? In Christ, reconciling 55:13 the world unto himself. Christ did not feel Him but the Father 55:18 was there, suffering with him. At the same time, he had to 55:25 punish him for our behalf. I would like to, since the time 55:30 has passed, invite you to go to the book of... Remember it was 55:36 the wages of sin is death. This is what Christ suffered for us, 55:40 but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our 55:44 Lord. Romans 6:23. 2 Peter 3:9 tells us: The Lord is not slack 55:55 concerning His promise as some men count slackness but is 55:58 longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, 56:02 but that all come to repentance. This will be wonderful if all 56:10 would repent. There will be joy for the Lord for all the sinners 56:16 that repent, but there will be sorrow for the Lord for all 56:19 those that don't. This is the part we do not understand. God 56:25 will suffer to see one person be lost and have to suffer the 56:32 wages of sin, because Christ already paid the price. So I 56:36 read to you from Isaiah 55:6-7. Listen to the words of the Lord. 56:45 Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he 56:52 is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man 56:58 his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord and he will have 57:04 mercy upon him, and to our God for he will abundantly pardon. 57:12 Isaiah 55:6-7. So I encourage all here to forsake evil and 57:21 follow the Lord. The Bible says Let the wicked forsake his way 57:25 and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto 57:27 the Lord and the Lord will have mercy upon him. God is extending 57:32 his mercy to you watching, listening to this program. I 57:35 encourage you to take the hand of the Lord. I encourage you to 57:38 let him embrace you, forgive you and give you a new beginning 57:41 in Jesus Christ. Christ has paid the price for your sins. You do 57:46 not have to suffer for your sins Christ has paid the price and 57:50 you can have eternal life through his Son Jesus Christ who 57:54 has died for you and is ready to save you. Go to him now. He 57:58 will receive you and give you eternal life. 58:01 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2019-12-17