Untitled Sermon

What God Demands, He Supplies

Genesis 22:1-13

This morning we will continue with the third of our seven-part series looking at the basic laws of the spiritual life that apply to all Christians everywhere.

The First Law states a fundamental reality: He's God and we're not.” That means that God is sovereign in and above all things.

Get this and everything else in life will begin to fall into place. But as long as you fight against God and His laws and principles, frustration will follow you no matter what you do or how often you go to church.

The Second Law takes us one step further: “God doesn't need us, but we desperately need Him.” The key is the word desperately, which focuses on our weakness, our sinfulness, and our total separation from God because of our sin.

God can get along fine without us, but we couldn't live another second without him.

Once we realize our true condition, and what God has done for us, we should get on our knees, confessing our sin and crying out to God for mercy.

And that leads us to this Third Law of the spiritual life : “What God demands, He supplies.”

In Genesis 22 there is a very familiar story/event. One day God came to Abraham and told him to take his son Isaac to the region of Moriah and sacrificed him there as a burnt offering to the Lord.

And verses 1 and 2 we read “And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt/test Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And God said, 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.”

If there was any discussion or protests between Abraham and God, it is not recorded in the text.

All we know is that the next morning Abraham took his son and his servants and set out to obey the Lord's command.

When they got to the region Moriah he said to his servants, ”Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you” (Genesis 22:4).

In Hebrews 11: 17-19 we read, “By faith Abraham, when he was tried/tested, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called: Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead…”

Abraham believed that God would raise his son from the dead. By faith Abraham looked beyond the immediate circumstance and found faith to believe that the God who would take his son from him would also give him back.

As they walked along Isaac said, “Father I see the wood and the fire, but where is the lamb for the sacrifice?” Abraham replied, “God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering.”

What he was really saying was that God would provide Himself as a lamb.

When they reached the right spot, Abraham built an altar of stones and placed the wood on the top of it. Then he bound Isaac and placed him on the wood.

Abraham raised his hand and prepared to plunge the knife into the breast of his son. But at the moment Abraham was about to sacrifice his son, (not one second sooner and not one second later), God spoke to Abraham.

In verses 12, 13 we read, “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him there was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burn offering in the stead of his son.”

My point here is to show us that this third principle of spiritual life, “What God demands, He supplies.”

First, God spoke; Second God saw; Thirdly, God Demanded, an Fourthly, God Provided.

He spoke to see how Abraham would respond; He saw Abraham's willingness to trust and obey His word; And in response everything He demanded He provided what He demanded.

There is something in God that causes Him to provide whatever we need to meet His righteous demands.

That “something” is His grace. God's grace . moves Him to give us what we do not deserve and could never earn. He gives us the exact opposite of what we deserve - forgiveness of our sins, eternal life, and a home in heaven.

Micah 7: 18 says, “Who is a God like you, who pardoned sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy.”

Every other religion is based on works. But Christianity is based on grace. If you have to do something, anything at all, to earn it or merit it or deserve it, its not grace.

The whole difference comes down to this: Christianity is based on what Christ has done for us. Every other religion is based on what we ourselves do.

Robert Robinson wrote these words in 1758:

Come, thou fount of every blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy Grace

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above.

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

This is a word of hope and it brings us to the very heart of the gospel, and if we understand this law and accept it, we know why the gospel is truly Good News.

The heart of the gospel (the Good News), is first seen in the story of Abraham we read earlier. The second is seen in Matthew 1:20, 21 as the Holy Spirit tells Joseph of the birth of Jesus and says , “…the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus : for he shall save his people from their sins.

And the most familiar scripture telling the Good News is found in John 3: 16, 17 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; But that the world through Him might be saved.”

In Romans 3: 23 we read that “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God…”

And Romans 6: 23 continues, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

In order for man to be saved, there needed to be a savior – sinful man could not nor cannot save himself so God provided a Savior in sending His only son so that whoever believes in him will never perish but have everlasting life.

Here is the whole gospel in three simple statements :

God said, “Do this.” We said, “We can't.” God said, “I'll do it for you.”

God demanded payment for sin. We couldn't make that payment. So, God sent His Son to become the propitiation for our sin.

God demanded righteousness. But all we had to offer were the filthy rags of our selfish and sinful lives. So God sent His Son who took our sin so that we might be clothed with his perfect righteousness.

God demanded a blood sacrifice for sin. But we could not meet that demand.

So he sent His Son to die in our place, shedding his blood, paying the price, bearing our burden, and offering Himself as the final sacrifice for our sin.

First Peter 1:18 says, “…you are not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.”

What God demanded, God provided. He said the wages of sin is death “but the gift of God is eternal life.”

What God demands, He supplies. All that we need, we can find in Christ. This is the Third Law of the Spiritual Life.

So, I ask again this morning, if you were here and not a Christian, “Why not?” And if you are a Christian but just sitting and soaking up information - just hearing but doing nothing - not praying, not reading the Word not sharing the gospel with your family and others - then I want to challenge you to put your faith into action.