A son is reborn

Good morning everyone! I am so excited to be here with you all today. It is such a great day and we have already had an amazing time of worship and fellowship, along with an amazing breakfast if you were around for that this morning. we want to take a brief moment and thank our men for that amazing breakfast, Amen...I bet our kids here have had an amazing time so far, and now we get to invite all of our children to join their teachers in the back and go have a great time this morning. I also want to welcome those of you joining us online and being a part of our extended spiritual family this morning. I love that we get to come together here every week, those of us here and those online all get to be a part of a spiritual family that worships and enjoys to spend time together.

Now I want to share a story with you that I heard this week and is such an encouraging story of living for Christ in every day life…So this person, and Im not gonna say who it is, because I did not ask permission. So, this person shared this story when asked how they were doing… “Awesome! I went to the grocery store this afternoon hoping to run into someone I know. They weren’t there, but I ran into a man who I knew from work and would also see him sometimes in the grocery store. I got to share with him about LRBC and pray with him for his wife who is about to have a kidney transplant!” Now, why do I love this story? Do I love it because they talked about LRBC…no. The reason I love this story is because in this story we hear about a person that was bold enough to simply pray with someone else in public. Do you know how important that is? Do you know how rare that is? Listen, I get excited when I hear about people living their lives for Christ outside of the church building, because it means that this place is a place where Christians gather on Sunday’s while living for Christ throughout the week…Amen?

And you know why Christians are able to live for Christ throughout the week is directly related to the story we are going to look at this morning…Well, the story behind the story we are going to look at his morning. So I guess I should really explain what I mean by that huh…You see, this morning we are going to look at a story that is really much more than it appears. This morning we are going to look at a story that has much larger implications that it appears at first glance. This morning we are going to look at a story about

The Sacrifice of Isaac...

Yeah…you know the kid who was the long awaited promised son of Abraham is gonna get sacrificed today..that is messed up isn’t it. Well…let’s take a look at what’s going on.

Genesis 22:1–2 (ESV)

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”

Ok, so did God just promise Abraham a son 25 years ago as a long prank, or could there be something else going on here? Well, something that I have said over and over again is that everything in the O.T. is pointing to Jesus. So, the question we should ask is, How does this story point me to Jesus? If we can figure out where Jesus is in this story, then we can start to make a little more sense over what is going on here. That means as we go through this story, we need to look for the reference to Jesus somewhere.

Let me tell you about what is going on though. After this conversation with God, Abraham packs up and leaves to go to the mountain that God has directed him to go. He took some men and donkeys and when the got to the base of the mountain, he left the men and the donkeys and he and Isaac climbed up the mountain to the place where they will make this sacrifice. Abraham tells the men something interesting though. Abraham indicates to his men that both he and Isaac will return after they worship in peace. Now…what is interesting is that if he is going to sacrifice his son, then he cannot return with his son. So, maybe he is telling the men that so that they don’t try and stop him…thats what Ive always thought as I would read this story. Anyway... After they start to walk up, Isaac talks to Abraham

Genesis 22:7–8 (ESV)

And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.

That’s interesting…Now, Ill be honest, when I would read this story as a kid, I would always read in this that Abraham is being very secretive so that Isaac wouldn’t run away…and maybe that’s true…but again, if this is pointing to Jesus, then maybe there is more to the story here. Let me tell you some more of this story.

So, Abraham and Isaac go up the mountain and Abraham builds the alter with the wood that they brought up with them. Then…and this is where is gets hard…Then Abraham tied up Isaac and placed him on the alter, reaching his hand for the knife in order to sacrifice his son…he is stopped.

Genesis 22:11–12 (ESV)

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”

At that point the Lord sent a ram and Abraham heard the rustling in the brush. Immediately Abraham took the ram and made a sacrifice to the Lord and called that place, The Lord will Provide. It is such a beautiful picture of God’s provision…Then God spoke to Abraham and blessed him for his obedience and reaffirmed his commitment to make Abraham into a great nation and that all would be blessed through him. Look at

Genesis 22:18–19 (ESV)

and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

After all of this, Abraham built up a home at Beersheba, the same place that he made a covenant over the well that we talked about last week. But…can I be honest for just a second here? This is a pretty messed up story isn’t it? I mean, what if Abraham didn’t hear God and he accidentally took the knife down and killed Isaac? What if Abraham was so grief stricken that he was crying to loudly to be able to see the ram in the brush. I mean, it seems like there is so much that could have gone wrong. Even if nothing went wrong…what kind of loving God requires that someone sacrifice their son that they love…the long awaited son that was promised before…I mean, who does that?

What’s really going on here?

Well, when we look at this story in it’s full context of knowing that all of Scripture is truly one long story, then we are able to notice three things. First of all we see that

THIS WASN’T ABRAHAM’S FIRST EXPERIENCE WITH GOD

Remember, Abraham has spent alot of time with God over the course of the years that he has been waiting for these promises to come true. Abraham has both had faith and been to scared to have faith in various times. As a result of that, Abraham knew the character of God. Abraham knew that God must have had something up his sleeve that he just didn’t see yet. I mean, remember a few weeks ago we saw Abraham go boldly to God and say

Genesis 18:25 (ESV)

Far be it from you to do such a thing, to put the righteous to death with the wicked, so that the righteous fare as the wicked! Far be that from you! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?”

Of course we saw how that worked out as well. We , saw that even in that circumstance God upheld his promise to Abraham and saved Lot from the destruction of Sodom. You see, Abraham obeyed God…becuase Abraham trusted God…what about you? What is it in your life, that you know God is leading you too…do you know God enough to be able to trust his promises to carry you through that situation? You know, Abraham trusted God enough that

ABRAHAM DIDN’T THINK ISAAC WOULD DIE

Isn’t that an interesting idea…Remember that when they got to the mountain that Abraham said he and the boy would return. Either Abraham was lying…or Abraham knew more than we read. Then when Isaac asks where the lamb is and Abraham acknowledges that God will provide the lamb himself…It’s really kind of interesting to be honest. Abraham obeyed the Lords command, while trusting God would do something different...

What if I showed you a picture of what Abraham was thinking while he was obeying God through this whole process…Look over at

Hebrews 11:19 (ESV)

He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Did you see that…Abraham understood that if he would be led to sacrifice Isaac, that God would raise him back to life… You know there are times in Scripture that we read of horrible things that happened, especially in the O.T. When we read about these things we could easily leave with an awful picture of who God is…However, if we are willing to look beyond the surface, then we are able to see how much more there is to learn about God. Many times we need to be willing to make some of those connections in Scripture, which we can only actually make if we are regularly reading Scripture, right? I mean, for those of you that are reading the Bible this year with our group, how many times already have you read something that you didn’t realize was there…How many times has what you read connected to another part of Scripture that you didn’t even notice. Look at this picture…This is a photo of all of the times that Scripture connects to itself…Isn’t that amazing! Now, many times at first glance we will think we know someone’s intentions based on what happened, other times we really need to connect to another place in Scripture to get a full picture of what is happening. Let me tell you about Abraham and Isaac here.

THIS WAS A VISUAL ILLUSTRATION

Yeah, that sounds made up, but let me share with you something that alot of people don’t realize. Now you know that Jesus many times taught through parables, right? Well, in the O.T. God would speak through prophets with actions in order to illustrate something, similar to the way Jesus used parables. A visual illustration is God directing the actions of a prophet to illustrate a spiritual truth. For instance, there is a story of a man named Hosea who was instructed to marry prostitute and continue taking her back after she continued to leave him to be unfaithful. This was a picture of how God continued to take back Israel after they continued to be unfaithful in their worship. Well, the same thing is happening here. So if that is the case…what spiritual truth does this action point us to?

You will remember that I said before that the whole Bible points to Jesus, right? Everything in the O.T. points forward, and everything in the N.T. points backwards, all showing that Jesus is the main character in this massive story. Well, think about the parallels between Isaac and Jesus in this story. Both Isaac and Jesus are long-awaited “beloved sons” who are born in miraculous circumstances. One who was past the years of giving birth, and who was before the ability to give birth. Both sons carry the wood that was to be the alter of their death on their backs. Both sons follow obediently toward their own death. Finally both stories end with a substitute for the sacrifice. Abraham saw a ram in the brush, and Jesus is called the Lamb of God. (J 1:29)…You see, when we place this story into the greater context of Scripture we are able to see that...

Jesus Is the True Isaac

This story is a visual illustration of the greater redemption God would someday accomplish through one of Abraham’s descendants, Jesus. Jesus is the son that will bless the entire world. Abraham’s potential sacrifice of Isaac points us to the true sacrifice of Jesus. In this passage we see a ram sacrificed in the place of a child, and in the story of Jesus we see the Lamb sacrificed in the place of you and me. But why is that even needed?

Why is a sacrifice needed?

That is the million dollar question isn’t it? Why does there need to be a sacrifice? Why does there need to be a death? Why do bad things happen to good people? You see, the answer to these questions is the same…Death is needed becuase of sin. You see, you and I have both sinned, we read that in

Romans 3:23 (ESV)

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

and the price of that sin is death, we read that in

Romans 6:23 (ESV)

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

However, the good news is that Christ took your death and my death on himself and made himself a sacrifice in order to save your life and my life. We read that in one of the most famous verses ever

John 3:16 (ESV)

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

You see…you and I have hope through Jesus…that is the hope, the blessing that was promised to Abraham all the way back something like 4,000 years ago..Today, you have the opportunity to partake in that promise…Today you have the ability to join in the promise with Abraham, we read that in

Galatians 3:29 (ESV)

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

However, all of this is only possible on one condition…All of this only works if Jesus really was who he said he was? All of this only happens if Abraham actually came down the mountain with Isaac…You see, Abraham believed God could even raise Isaac from the dead and the reality is that we only have hope because Jesus did rise from the dead! Look at this passage from Paul to a church in Corinth.

1 Corinthians 15:20 (ESV)

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Paul was able to write this with authority because he physically met Jesus after he had been crucified. Paul had a conversation with Jesus on the road to a town called Damascus in order to find and persecute others who believed in Jesus...

So…that brings us to you? Every single person here this morning and every single person joining us online deserves to pay the price for sin…Every single one of us deserves death based on our own actions…Have you ever lied? Have you ever stolen? Have you every been so angry at someone that you thought negative thoughts towards them…if you answered yes to any of those, then you have sinned and deserve death…If you answered no to all of those, then you just lied which means you have sinned and deserve death.

However, there is one who has offered himself as a sacrifice and is willing to pay the price for your sin…that one is Jesus. This morning I want to ask you if have you made a commitment to Jesus? Have you acknowledged your own sin, and repented of that sin turning from self to Christ? Do you know how to do that?

Romans 10:9 (ESV)

because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.

Thats it…confess and believe…but the confession is an important aspect of that process, so if you believe in your heart and are sitting there quietly then there is a pretty important aspect that you are missing out on…Now, if you have done that in the past, are you living in light of that repentance today…or do you need to refocus your life on Christ this morning?

This morning we get to celebrate the gift of salvation that was made possible through the resurrection of Jesus. This morning we recognize that Abraham and Isaac point us to Jesus and that we are each responsible for our own relationship with Christ…If you are here today, or joining us online and you would acknowledge today that you have commited your life to Christ then I want to encourage you to live every day for him. If you are here today or joining us online and you would acknowledge that either you have not made that commitment or that commitment is not what you wish it was, then I want to invite you to reach out and connect with me this morning…But before that…I am going to ask everyone to do something pretty bold this morning…After I pray the band is going to come up and lead us in How Great is our God....I want to invite you to come forward and spend a moment kneeling at the alter this morning, praying and signifying your commitment to the Lord. Abraham took Isaac to the alter, Jesus carried the alter to the mountain…are you willing to meet Jesus at the alter this morning...

Let’s pray