The God Who Provides

ethat was beautifulyes yeah um my wife isRussian andum when I was learningRussian because you know I wanted tohave heart- heart conversations with mymother-in-law I um I spent time watchingold Sovietmovies and old Soviet movies if you havewatch them they're not like Wessonmovies at all they tell real humanintereststories and they they're tinged with anote of sadness in many of thosemovies and uh in those movies wheneverthey there's a song or some backgroundmusic it's almost always um um a mouthorgan like we were hearing tonight so Iwas sitting here this evening thinkingI'm back inMoscow um as I want to thank you brotherfor your mouth organ Ministryprocrastiner it was a beautiful piece ofmusic there all right so to those whowatching online we give you a warmwelcome and uh tonight is our finalnight looking at uh the names of God anduh just uh just a reminder that thenames of God are windows into hischaracter and so far we've looked atfour names of God uh the first one wasyah Sab the Lord of hosts that is uh theThe God Who fights his battles for hispeople he is a covenant making and acovenant keeping God and he is thecoming king of kings and Lord of lordsthen we looked at the story of Gideonwhere we realize that his one of hisnames is Yahweh Shalom the Lord of peaceand we discover that when we come intocontact with the Lord of peace and hereigns in our life that we no longer canlive at peace with the gods of thisworld so to follow the lord of Peacemeans that we're now at enmity with theways of this world and the Fallen godsof this worldthen we looked at the story of HagarEloy the God who sees he is the god whosees us in our distress who hears ourcries for help he sees he hears heanswers he searches he finds he meetsand he invites us to trust him with ourfuture then last night we looked at thestory of Jehovah Yahweh al- Nissi theLord our Banner in the story of thebattle with the amalekites is the onlytime in the Bible that name of GodAppears and uh we we learned that thebanner is Jesus Christ and he was liftedhigh on a pole on a banner in order thatwe might have salvation and so tonightwe're going to look at a very veryfamous name for God uh and uh when I wasgrowing up um we used to sing a songJehovah Gyra my provider his grace issufficient for me and I didn't realizeas a small boy that this is one of thenames for God Yahweh or Jehovah Gyra andso you can say either way um there's norealwhich way it is supposed to be umpronounced but tonight we're going to belooking at the story of Jehovah JehovahGyra the God who provides so i' in liketo invite you to Bow your heads I willopen S with your voice of word of prayerheavenlyfather as We Gather here tonight uh atthe opening of the Sabbathhours Lord I Thank you that the Sabbathis a temple and time an equal gift givento every member of the human racethe father wherever we come from whetherwe be rich or poor whe we drove or walkhere tonight whether we live in a palaceor in a h you bless each one of us with24 hours of communion withyou father thank you that you providefor ourneeds thank you that you are the God whoprovides and I thank you Lord that as wewill see tonight you are the God whoprovides a way for our salvationso Lord as I speak may your spirit speakthrough me and for me May these words ofscripture come alive in our lives in ourhearts and in our homes I pray Lord foreveryone gathered here tonight for thosewatching online or those who watch thislater on the internet I pray that youthe Lord who provides will come close tothem in a very personal and meaningfulway thank you Father for hearing thisprayer in Jesus name I askamen so do you and enjoytests hands up if you enjoyed your testsatschool all right there's a few hands goup all right so I didn't particularlyenjoy tests at school they were anecessary evil and I realized that testsum are there simply to provide a doorwayto the next stage of life and if you getthrough that test you can move on to thenext stage of life whether it be anacademic career or a driving test or alicensing test for for a trade um and soforth but I didn't really enjoy testswhile I was going up growing up testscan be really stressful yes yeah um I'vegot two kids and I've noticed that whenthey've got tests it's best just toleave them alone because they get quitestressed out when tests are coming andwhen kids have tests almost every otherday at school it seems to me the kidsare kept in a perfect State per almostpermanent state of being stressed outbecause there's tests and there's testsand there's tests and there's teststests can be stressful but they're alsopositive because they demonstratewhether they demonstrate the truth ofthematter unless you have a test you do notknow the truth of the matter a test candemonstrates whether you haveknowledge understanding skill or whetheryou can apply what you've learned so farin your classes and God allows us to gothrough tests we call them trials from aBiblical perspective in order that wemay grow in faith in order that ourcharacters might be refined and purifiedand to demonstrate before the watchingUniverse the depth of our love for Godso tonight we want to talk about one ofthe most famous tests of faith that wefind in the scripture and it's a storyof Abraham and Isaac and the sacrificeon Mount Mariah so this is the journeywe're going to make heretonight the test of faith then theTriumph of Faith then the inheritance ofFaith that's our journey tonight butwe're going to start out first with thetest of faith we're going to pick up thestory of Abraham in Genesis CH 22 andverse 1 and it says there after thesethings God tested Abraham and he said tohim Abraham and he that is Abraham saidhere I am and so you may ask what doesMoses mean by after these things why isGod testing Moses after these things uhuh Abraham why does God feel itnecessary to give Abraham a test aftercertain things what's been going on inAbraham's life that requires the test tosee whether he is faithful to God or notso Something's Happened in Abraham'slife we kind of hinted at it the othernight we'll just kind of go through itin a bit more detail here so let's justremind ourselves the call to Abrahamcame in Genesis 22: 1 and 3 now this iswhen he's in haran in um in NorthernIraq but the first call to Abraham camein Acts 7: 1 2 and 3 where God says getthee up from this land and leave yourcountry and your family and go to a landthat I will show you so God said in Actschapter 7 leave your family and yourcountry and go to a country that I'mgoing to show you and Abraham did notwas was obedient to leaving his countrybut he was not obedient because he tookhis family with him and when he comes toGenesis 12 and after the death of hisfather God once again says to Abraham Iwant to get thee out of thy country asyou see on the screen and from thyKindred so leave your country and yourfamily and from your father's housethat's supposed to include lot becauselots of his father's house and get intoa land that I will show you and I willmake of thee a great nation and I willbless thee and make thy name great andthou shalt be a blessing and I willbless them that curse thee and curse himthat curseth thee and in thee shall allfamilies of the earth be blessed now wecovered last night the blessing that Godbrings to the families of the earththrough the line of Abraham now Abrahamresponded to God's call by leaving hiscountry so far so good but by the timethis command comes Abraham is 75 yearsof age and he's not sure whether he andSarah are going to have children oftheirown so he takes his nephew lot inDisobedience to God's command and we seethat in Genesis 12 and verse4 so Abrahamwent as the Lord had told him and lotwent with him lot had no reason to be inthat family Caravan moving down toCanaan because God had said to Abrahamleave your family and leave yourfather's house behind and lot was hisnephew he came from his father's houseso Abraham was 75 years old when hedeparted from Haram maybe Abraham ishedging his bets maybe he thinks lotwill be the child of promise maybe Godwill bless the nations of the earththrough lot he's 75 years old Sarah is66 and it doesn't look like they'rehaving children anytime soon now lateron Abraham gives lot the the choicestpart of land of the land in Canaan saysthe Lord said to Abraham after lot hadseparated from him rise raise your eyesnow and look from the place where youare northward and Southward and Eastwardand Westward for all the land that yousee I will give to you and yourOffspring forever I'll make youOffspring like the dust of the earth sothat if no one can so that no if no onecan count the dust of the earth if onecan count the dust of the earth yourOffspring will also be counted and solot is given the best piece of landAbraham says you can take whatever landyou want like this is your inheritancelot and immediately after doing that Godcalls out Abraham and he says lookAbraham look up to the stars and see ifyou can count them then I'm going togive you descendants lot is not thechild of Promise despite what you maythink come to Genesis 15 these are thethings that that are causing God to havea test in Abraham's life Genesis 15 saysafter these things the word of the Lordcame to Abraham in a vision saying fearnot Abraham I am thy Shield th exceedinggreat reward and Abraham said Lord GodWhat wilt thou give me seeing I gochildless and the steward of my house isthis eleazer of Damascus and so Abrahamis saying I don't have any childrenlot's not going to be the CH the childof promise maybe it's going to beeleazer and so is it going to be eleazerthis this slave in the household ofAbraham Abraham certainly thinks that'sbe an option because he has no Heir andin response God says to him but the wordof the Lord came to Abraham this manthat is eleazer he shall not be yourHeir no one but your very own issueshall be your Heir he brought himoutside this is the second time God doesthis to Abraham and says look towardsthe heaven and count the Stars if youare able to count them then he said soshall your descendants be so Abrahamthinks that uh God's not going tofulfill his promise to him he he saysmaybe my descendant will be lot but it'snot going to be lot maybe my descendantis going to be Eleazar but God says it'snot going to be Eleazar and as we saw umin the story two nights ago the story ofHagar you have the story of Hagar andIshmael and uh you see this the passageon the screen there Genesis 16: 1-2Hagar was getting worri worried so shegave her slave girl Hagar to Abraham umhoping and praying that maybe that wouldbe the child of promise but even as shegives Hagar to Abraham even Sarah doubtsthat this really is what God's will isfor them it if it may be that I shallobtain a child through him and so Sarahthinks maybe maybe not and yet threetimes in these chapters 15 161 17 and 18God Appears to Abraham and he affirms tohim that he will have a child of Promiseit'll be between Abraham and Sarah andAbraham doesn't need to try and workGod's purposes out in his Florhuman way soAbraham is a hero of faith we say yesbut he's also veryexpedient and when he doesn't see Godfulfilling his promises today he triesand figures it out his own way and eachtime he does it he causes human pain andhuman suffering and we still live withthe consequences of his expediency todayso then you come to the child of promisethis is Isaac and the word Isaac meanslaugh laugh he's called laughter becausewhen God said you're going to have achild um Sarah thought it was so amusingshe was laughing in the back of the tentand so he's called laughter as a dailyreminder to Sarah that you doubted God'spromises so his name is a rebuke toSarah for the rest of her life thatGod's promises come true even when youdoubt them it says the Lord visitedSarah as he had said and the Lord didunto Sarah as he had spoken for Sarahconceived and bear Abraham a son in hisold age age at the set time of which Godhad spoken to him now the text hereemphasizes three times that God has beenfaithful to Abraham it says the Lordvisited Sarah as he had said and theLord did unto Sarah as he had spoken andthe end of that little passage says atthe set time of which God has spoken tohim so three times Abraham tries tofigure out he's going to fulfill God'swill in his way and three times when Godgives him the child Isaac says he hadsaid he had spoken he had spoken to himso three times Moses emphasizing God wasfaithful to his promises toAbraham despite Abraham doing his owndeviations and causing all kinds ofhuman suffering God was faithful in hispromises to Abraham Abraham had triedthree times with lot eleasa and ishma todeliver on God's promises for a child ofpromise and a multitude of descendantsin a less than Faithful Way Abraham wasexpedient rather than obedient and so inver in chapter 22 we come to the phraseafter these things God decides to testAbraham like you've tried it your wayonce twice and Thrice it hasn't workedout I fulfilled my promises to you as Isaid three times to you you will have achild of promise now you've got yourchild child of promise now God's goingto test Abraham to see whether he'sreallychanged and these are the the thingsthat God is testing Abrahamabout and we come to that awful commandGenesis 22 and verse 2 and he said thatis God take now thy son thine only sonIsaac whom thou lovest and get thee intothe land of Mariah and offer him therefor a burnt offering upon one of themountains that I will tell thee of soAbraham is living down in Hebron it'sabout a 3-day Journey from where he'slivingand uh AB God says to him take now thyson thine only son like your son is notelazer and your son is not lot and yourson is notIshmael your only son that I count inGod's eyes is Isaac and I put the wordlovest in red because this is the firsttime in the Bible that the word loveappears it's the first time in the Biblethat the word love appears it's in therelationship between Abra Abraham andIsaac this was a special relationshipbetween Father and Son he's an old manhe's about 120 years old by this agageand Isaac is probably about 20 21 yearsof age is an old old man with the thethe son of his old age who he dots uponand loves more than anything else inlife and God says to him take your onlyson Isaac whom thou lovest so God knowsthat this is a close close relationshipbetween Abraham and Isaac is the firsttime in the Bible that the word loveappears after Decades of failure afterseeking imperfect Human Solutions ofleaving a trail of human pain in hiswork wake God is still working withAbraham likewise in our lives today wemay have Decades offailure we may have Decades of trying tofigure things out our way there's thatfamous song isn't it I did it my way butGod has his perfect ways and God ispatient with Abraham through decades andDecades of spiritual expediency andcutting of corners and saying well God Iknow this is what you said but I can Ican do it better than you can do itafter Decades of this spiritualexpediency and lack of faithfulness Godis still working with this old man at avery old age I'm grateful that we servea god of Mercy aren'tyou and he works with you and with medespite our Decades of of spiritualexpediency and sometimes of cuttingthose corners and sometimes of sayingI'm going to do it my way and God hassaid X Y and Z but I say a b and c and Ithink a and C is better than God's X Yand Z but after decades and Decades ofspiritual expediency God is stillworking with this old man Abraham ashe's working with you and with me todayhe's giving Abraham a chance to shinehe's giving Abraham in his old agebefore he dies a chance to demonstratehis faithfulness his obedience his loveand his his commitment to the word ofGod and likewise he gives you and meopportunities to shine today tomorrowand in the coming week despite what hashappened in our past like God is anoptimist about hischildren he sees all our failures hesees all our mistakes he sees all ourshortcuts he sees all of times we'veFallen he sees the willful rebellion inour hearts and he sees the stumbles thatwe sometimes fall into and he stillgives us gives us an opportunity toshine forhim and the verse says verse 22 goforth get thee into the land of Mariahthe Hebrew is Lear now this mirrors theoriginal command of Genesis 12 andverse1 now in Genesis 12 and verse1 Godsaid to him I want you to leave yourfamily and your and your country and getthee into a land that I'm going to showyou so in Genesis chapter 12 the the thecommand Le to get up and go forth God issaying to Abraham I want you to leaveyour past behindyou and the second time the command Learhere here comes to Abraham God is sayingto Abraham I want you to chop off thefuturenow in Genesis 12 get up Lear and leaveyour family and your country and leaveit behind so you're going to cut off thepast and now God says to Abraham Le Learget up and I want you to chop off youranticipatedfuture this is a big ask of God cut offyourpast he hasn't done that very well nowI'm asking you to cut off yourfuture it's quite a command from God toAbraham at this moment in this verse hewas to cut off his future he was to cutoff his only son Isaac the son whom heloved the first time we find theexpression love in the scriptures I wantyou to sacrifice himon a burnt offering I want you to tiehim up and you're going to slit histhroat with your own hands your only sonwhom you love the son called laughterhe'd already lost one beloved SonIshmael and now he was to kill Isaacwith his own hand the child of Promisewhom he dearlyloved it's a terrible test that Godgives Abraham at this moment and it'smore than just killing his ownson because through Isaac God hadpromised an Everlasting Covenant forAbraham's offspring in chapter 17 thatis the Salvation of all Humanity was onthe line in Isaac'slife the future of the Messiah was inAbraham's life and Abraham's ownchildren God wasn't just saying toAbraham cut off your past and cut offyour personal future God was saying toAbraham when you kill your son Isaacyou're leading that that is going to bethe death of the hope of eternal lifefor you Abraham as well because if Isaacdies the Messiah is not going to comebecause that's the line of the Messiahif Isaac dies you and Sarah have no hopeof eternallife if Isaac dies nobody on planetEarth has the future as the hope ofeternal life it's not just kill youronly son whom you Bel whom you love it'skill off all hope for the humanrace it's a terrible burden for Abrahamto bear at this moment it seemed toAbraham that beyond the trauma ofkilling his remaining and dearly belovedSon he was going to cut off um to tokill Isaac would kill his Hope ForEternity unless God personallyintervened so the command of God to killIsaac seemed to constrict the promise ofGod that through Isaac an EverlastingCovenant will be established um for TheOffspring of Abraham why then wouldAbraham follow God and follow through onthis test should he kill his son whom hehe loved or obey God whom heloved which love is going to be Supremein this story Abraham's love for God isbeing tested over his love for Isaac inkilling Isaac God is asking Abrahamwhether he's he Treasures obedience toGod today over eternal life tomorrow andforever more it's a terrible test thatGod places on Abraham's shoulders wouldAbraham's love for Isaac overwhelm histrust in God would Abraham focus onIsaac and forget the giver of the childof promise I don't quote Catholictheologians much but Augustine of Hippoin the 4th Century he said this aboutthis story he said what then doesAbraham teaches teach us he teaches usnot to prefer the gifts of God to Godhimself therefore put not even a realgift of God before The Giver of thatgift that is we are to be grateful forthe gifts of God but we are to beobedient to The Giver of all goodgifts and so Abraham has this test atest is he going to be faithful to TheGiver of the gift because if God gave itonce he can give it again or is he goingto clutch clutch onto that one gift thathe has now Isaac and refuse to obeyGod's command well The Story Goes On wesee Abraham's response says Abraham roseup early in the morning and he saddledhis ass and took two of his young menwith him and Isaac his son and caved thewood for the burnt offering and Rose upand went onto the place of which God hadtold him then on the third day Abrahamlifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off and then we go forward a coupleof slides gentlemen and so this is thestory Abraham doesn't hum moar about ithe doesn't call a council meeting thereis no record that he discussed theproblem withSarah and as you look at the story ofAbraham and Abraham and Sarah theirmarriage isn't isn't maybe a greatexample of what marriages should be likeand so maybe one reason Abraham gets upso early and leaves early in the morningis because he doesn't want to have todiscuss it withSarah like where are you going Abrahamor we just go on a three-day treack andwhy is Isaac going with you well I'mgoing to tie him down I'm going to puthim on an altar and I'm going to slithis throatthere I can imagine that the marriage ifit was already under stress is going tohave a lot more stress if that's whatyou say to Sarah so maybe Abraham saysmaybe it's better that I kind of slipout while it's still dark in the morningand uh I I'll deal with Sarah when I getback I'm going to lose my son so I maylose my wife in theprocess this is going to be a familyunder intense pressure now Abraham inchapter 18 He negotiated with God forthe inhabitants of Sodom and gomorraremember that story if there are 50righteous individuals will you save thatCity if there are 40 righteousindividuals if there are 303 he comesall the way down to 10 Abraham knowswhat it's like to negotiate with God forwhat he wants but in this story storyhere Abraham is pastnegotiation what it has you have sixrapid fire imperfect verbs in the Hebrewsays he rose he saddled he took he splithe arose he went and when he gets tomount Mariah you have six correspondingrapid fire imperfect words he verbs hebuilt he arranged he bound he placed hestretched he took this rapid sequence ofverbs that kind of gets lost in theEnglish translation but it's there inthe Hebrew indicates that a Abraham isno longer negotiating with God he's nolonger bargaining with God he's nolonger second guessing God on hisperfect will but he's learned now totrust God no matter what there is simpleobedience just as in the story ofGenesis remember remember when uh uh goGod says to um Noah build get get theeup and build me an ark Noah doesn't sayanything in Genesis 6 or 7 that spans120 years he only speaks when they comeout of the Ark in the Gen this the storyof the flood Genesis 67 and8 it's aremarkable story The emphasis in Genesisis is that Noah was obedient to God hejust did as he was told we find outlater that he was a preacher ofrighteousness but that doesn't appear inthe Book of Genesis rather we have apicture of a righteous individual saysNoah alone was righteous on the earth hewas the last righteous individual andit's a picture of simple obedience toGod's commands and now in this storyhere you have six verbs he rose hesaddled he took he split he arose and hewent when he gets to mount Mariah wehave those other verbs he built hearranged he bound he placed he stretchedhe took there are no negotiations nobargaining no pleading no tears he hadtried to shortcut God's will in the pastit had never worked but it only ended inhuman suffering so now Abraham waschoosing to trust and Obey despite theturmoil in hisheart when I was driving around with mywife and our kids when they were smallmy kids used to sing the song the backthey say trust and Obey for there's noother way to be happy in marriage but totrust and Obey and that song was aimedat me as the father I want you to trustand Obey for there's no other way to behappy in marriage than to trust and Obeyand we kind of smile about it now but mykids understood that Dad if you want ahappy marriage you need to trust andObey why because a Godly wife is likethe presence of the spirit of God to ahusband young men listen to that youwant a God-fearing wifebecause the women God-fearing women cansense things that you often cannot and aGod-fearing wife is like the presence ofthe Holy Spirit to her husband and sheshapes him and she steers him and sheguides him often behind the scenes butshe is an indispensable part of herhusband'ssalvation so Abraham leaves early in themorning well it's about a 3 days journeyfrom beay Sheba to Jerusalem so he needsan early start to avoid the heat of theday he's probably wanting to avoid aconfrontation with Sarah in chapter 16he had listened to her before when shesubverted God's Will and suggested thathe have a child through Hagar so nowwishing to preserve his marriage andavoid being forced to choose between Godand his wife again he gets up early andhe leaves before Sarah gets up and theygo to the land of Mariah this is a verysignificant spot in human history andsalvation history Solomon built thetemple on Mount mariia 2 Chronicleschapter 3 is just to the north of thecity of David this is the place whereLambs were slain morning and eveningpointing forward to the Lamb of God whoone day would die outside the walls ofJerusalem and so the story goes onverses 5 and six and Abraham said untohis young men abide ye here with thisass or with this donkey and I am the ladwho will go Yer and worship and comeagain to you and Abraham took the woodof the burnt offering and laid it uponIsaac his son and he took the fire inhis hand and a knife and they went bothof them together so for three days andfor two nights they jourthat is Abraham's obedience was not tobe rushed and it was not to be theresult of a sudden impulse God wasgiving him time to think about what hewas doing this wasn't just going to beget up and do it and you know don'treally think about it you're going tohave this long journey to think aboutwhat you're about todo and every step of the way Abrahammust be thinking is this what I'msupposed to be doing as he walks withhis son thinking I may never see mychild of promise everagain it's a terrible Journey forAbraham God is giving him the chance toponder what he's about to do he hasample opportunity to turn back from thatmountain and say Lord any test but notthistest but hedoesn't but you see in the text thatAbraham still has faith in God despitethe horror of the command says I and thelad will go Yonder and worship and comeagain to you and that's what it says inEnglish because in English the I and thelad is we and um the we will go itimplies we will go and the worship itimplies we will worship and come againit doesn't say whether I will come againor we will come again to you in theEnglish but in the Hebrew it's veryclear the Hebrew says I am the youth wewill go Yonder we will worship and wewill come again the verb constructionmakes it very clear Abraham is toingtrusting that despite the fact he'sgoing to kill his son he's going toreturn with his son in a few daystime it's there in the Hebrew it's notthere in the English because the Englishjust loses in Translation I am the ladwe will go Yonder and we will worshipand we will come again unto you that'swhat he's saying to the the servantsaround him even if I kill my only son mybeloved Son who God gave me once to anold man for whom it was not possible tohave a son I'm going to trust God thathe's going to make things right I'mchoosing to trust God in this thisterrible moment of test Hebrews 11: 17and 19 put this way it says by faithAbraham when he was tried or testedoffered up Isaac and he that hadreceived the promises offered up hisonly begotten son this is the only childin scripture called only begotten otherthan Jesus Christ his only begotten sonthat is Isaac of whom it was said thatin Isaac shall thy seed be called calledaccounting that God was able to raisehim up even from the dead from whencealso he received him in a figure soAbraham believed and trusted that if hewas to kill his boy he was trusting thatGod was going to raise his boy from thedeadagain now that's Faithyes God says I want you to kill thisonly boy of yours and Abraham says okayI'm going to do it Lord but I'm notgoing to keep my faith to myself I'mgoing to tell the servants who are withme that we're going to come back inthree days time so he's not just hopingthat God will raise him from the deadhe's testifying to his faith in theresurrection at the most brutal andhardest moment of his life he's notkeeping his faith to himself in thedarkest moments of his life the worstchapter the moment that he wishes wouldnever come to him he's still expressinghis trust in theresurrection are we faithful andexpressing trust in God when things arebad just as much as when thing whentimes are good we come into the Lord'sinto the court of the Lord the house ofthe Lord with Thanksgiving and withpraise it says in the Psalms uh praiseis when we praise God for who he isThanksgiving is where we're grateful forwhat he's done for us and we often comewith Thanksgiving and praise when thingshave gone well I got a job I got a newpromotion I passed my exams at schoolwhatever the case may be but do we comeinto the house of the Lord and saypraise the Lord I failed my driving testfor the second time this week I've neverheard anybody saythat maybe a few husbandsbut uh no there's a few guys laughing atthat joke never mind do we ever comeinto the house of the Lord and say thankthe Lord I failed my professionallicense exams nobody ever saysthat butmaybe maybe we should come in withThanksgiving because when God closes onedoor he's merely opening another doorthat's better for us and so to praiseGod in the in the dark moments of Lifeexpresses more faith than to praise Godwhen things going well and Abraham isexpressing his faith in God and he'sabout to slit his son's throat and he'ssaying to those servants we're going toworship and we're going to return in afew days time so I'm going to testify tomy faith despite all the evidence to thecontrary that this is an irrationalfaith and totally crazy for me to havesuch a thought in my mind he's given usan example of praising God and trustingGod and testifying to God's goodness notjust in the good times of life but inthe worst moments oflife human wisdom the human wisdom ofAbraham must be replaced with Divinetrust three days were needed on that Mmarch to mount mountMariah likewise God allows us to gothrough difficult times to wean us offour love for thisworld I don't know how you feel aboutthe last three years I'm not going totalk about Co tonight okay but I willsay this I think everybody that's gonethrough the last three years if you ifyou haven't kind of lost some of yourfaith in the gods of this world thensomething's wrong in the last threeyears everybody's had to make a personaldecision and there were consequences tothat decision one way or the otherprofound consequences whether it beHealth consequences or careerconsequences or financial consequencesor Consequences for your employment orwhat people think of you in politecompany or not everybody's had to makepersonal decisionsand we we've realized that when pushcomes to shove you're on yourown and nobody can make those harddecisions for you and you're going tohave to live with those decisions onyour own and so it came down to you andGod and what the Holy Spirit wasconvicting you of and whatever decisionyou made you suddenly realized that theComforts of this world and the careersof this world are only temporary andthey can be taken away from you justlike that and we spend our lives and wesweat blood we Splat we sweat Blood andTears and we get up early in the morningand we study till late at night to buildcareers that are here today and gonetomorrow at the whim of someadministrator and surely if we if wehaven't thought about it maybe we shouldthink about it tonight the gods of thisworld the gods of comfort the gods ofcareer the gods of advancement the godsof financial progress they're here todayand they're gone tomorrow and they'rebrutal taskmarkers so God allows us to go throughthese times of trouble to wean us offour love for the gods of this worldthat's what Abraham's having to gothrough here that's what we've just gonethrough in the last 3years God allows us to go throughdifficult times so that we rely Less onour human understanding and our Earthlywisdom so that we can grow in our trustin him we grow the most spiritually inthe hard times of life not in the timesof ease and plenty if you would to askyourself when was the time you grew themost in yourlife it wasn't when everything was goingwell it was when you had a cancerdiagnosis or your business went bankruptor you were repossessed or your marriagewas on the rocks or you had a badrelationship with a child or a parentand God somehow worked it through foryou that's when we grow themost okay so when you do your New Year'sresolutions and this isn't the 1st ofJanuary today I know that but when youdo your New Year's resolutions you knowpeople say you know I want to loseweight I want to earn more money I wantto get get a career progression whateverthe case may be we're looking for thegood things of life forgetting that it'snot in the good things of life that wegrowspiritually maybe a better New Year'sresolution would be to say would so wesay Lord when those rough times hit meas they will do I'm no longer going tosay why me Lord I'm going to ask Lordwhat do you want what are you teachingme in this moment how are you invitingme to grow how are you stretching mycharacter verses 7 and 8 says this andIsaac spake unto Abraham his father andsaid my father and he said here I am myson and he said behold the fire and thewood but where is the Lamb for a burntoffering and Abraham said my son Godwill provide himself a lamb for a burntoffering and so they both went and sothey went both of them together now thestory of Abraham and Isaac in thischapter it mentions that their fatherand son 15 times there is no otherchapter in the Bible that talks about afather and son relationship with theintimacy that Genesis 22 talks aboutAbraham and Isaac 15 times it recordsthis is a father and a son speakingtogether you find it in verse 2 verse 3Verse 6 verse 7 three times in verse 7verse 8 verse 9 verse 10 verse 12 it'stwice there verse 13 and twice in verse16 and this chapter includes the onlyknown conversation between Abraham andIsaac anywhere in Scripture it beginswith the word my father in verse 7 hereand it ends in the Hebrew with the thephrase my son begins with my father itends with my son is the only recordedconversation between a father and hisbeloved Son it is the only conversationbetween a father who's been called toslay his only begotten son from Hebrewshis only beloved Son as we read earlierin Genesis here whom he loves and Isaacasks a seemingly innocent question Dadwhere is the Lamb for the burntoffering is an innocent question andit's an innocent question because everytime that you come across Abrahambuilding altars previously in Genesis 12and Genesis 13 there is no record thathe ever sacrificed an animal there itsimply says he built an altar to Yahwehand he worshiped there and but ABA Isaacsees that okay we've got the wood andwe've got the fire but Dad I've neverseen you offer a sacrifice beforethere's no record of him offeringsacrifices when he builds old altarsbefore in his life and so naturallyIsaac is curious you've got the woodyou've got the fire but where's theoffering and God's Abraham's answertoIsaac is an expression of profound faithin God he says God will provide himselfa lamb for a burntoffering and Isaac saysnothing because he's being invited byhis father to trust in God aswell so Abraham is inviting Isaac totrust the same God that heworships Isaac doesn't dispute or disbor debate He says Dad that doesn't soundright or dad there's no Walmart up herethere's no meat market there's no animalTrader where we can buy a lamb fromwhere are we going to get a lamb fromthis doesn't doesn't look like it'sgoing to end well for either of us Isaacdoesn't negotiate bargain or disputewith his father he's invited by hisfather to trust The God Who willprovide it's a model for us that we areto invite our children also to trust inthe god of scripture that fathers youhave spiritual responsibilities to raiseyour children in the fear of the Lordand if I hear one thing one complaintfrom women in the church more than anyother complaint it's this I wish myhusband would take the lead in FamilyWorship in ourhome I hear that from wives everywhere Igo I wish the men in the house would bethe spiritual leaders of the house don'tjust be a provider don't just be aprotector you ought to be the priest ofthe house leading your family in FamilyWorship setting an example calling thekids together for the evening worship orthe morning worship before they go toschool it's a common complaint I hearfrom ladies yes we have men in the housebut we don't have the priest of thehouse present they're physically presentbut they're oftenabsentminded or their their minds areoccupied elsewhere men you haveresponsibilities we haveresponsibilities to lead our children infamilyworship and so Abe Isaac asks thisinnocent questionand Abraham says back to him God willprovide Jehovah Gyra and it's anintensive form of the verb it says Godwill provide himself and it's veryambiguous that God himself is going tobe the lamb or God himself will providethe lamb you can read it eitherway so the word God willprovide can be um Jehovah Gyra but theword himself can be that God himself isgoing to be the lamb or that God himselfis going to do the provisionof course we know later from John 1:29that Behold the Lamb of God that takethaway the sin of the world it is God whois going to provide himself to be theburnt offering for you and for me sothey continue the walk up thathill unbeknown to Abraham he prophesiedof the ram he caught in the thicketshortly afterwards and he also spoke ofthe Lamb of God who would also make alonely journey to a distant Hill to takeaway the sins of the earth and soAbraham and Isaac walk together andthere's no discussion at this point asthey walk up to mount Mariah why becauseFor the First Time in his life Abrahamis at peace with a familymember we think of him as a father ofthe faithful this guy didn't have anideal family but at this moment herefather and son walk in peace and insilence to the top of that LonelyHill both were in agreement they walkedside by side and we know elsewhere intscripture then l two be in agreementsthey cannot walk together so Abraham andIsaac were in agreement of what wasgoing to happen it is a metaphor forbeing in agreement because both were nowsubmitted to the will of God andwatching from heaven above I believethat God the father and God the son werealso watching with intense interest forone day they would also make a similarjourney to Calvary a hill outside thewalls of Jerusalem and once again thesalvation of all Humanity was going tobe on the lineand so we come to the the Triumph offaith it says and they came to the placewhich God had told him of and Abrahambuilt an altar there and laid the woodin order and bound Isaac his son andlaid him on the altar upon the wood andAbraham stretched forth his hand andtook the knife to slay his son it's aterrible story yes you don't want everto be in that kind of story yourselfthey come to the top of Mount marah thisis the site of the Temple of Solon to bebuilt many years later it is by Salem isthe city of Peace where to wheremelkisedek is the ruler like the king ofPeace it is it's just a Stones throwaway gol gotha is visible just to thewest of this mountain here and therethey built an altar Abraham must haveexplained God's command to Isaac tosacrifice his only son and also God'spromise to Abraham that through Isaacwould come the salvation of all Humanityso there was the command to sacrificeyour son slit his throat and burn himalive and there was the promise thatthrough Isaac All Families of the earthwill be blessed now that's aconundrum there's acommand and there's a promise but bythis stage of his life Abraham is donewith seeking Human expedience Solutionshe's going to Simply trust I'm going tobe a faithful to the command and I'mgoing to trust God that he will fulfillhis promise I don't know how I don'tknow when but I'm going to trust God forthe Fulfillment of his promise of theSalvation of all Humanity through theline of Isaac it was going to be God'sresponsibility to solve the awfulconundrum he would provide the answer totheir dilemma so Isaac listened anddespite the fact that he was a vigorousyoung man about the age of 20 at themoment of this story here easily able toflee from Abraham who is now about 120years of age there's about 100 years inage between them right now he meekly andtrustingly submitted to his father andin so doing he pointed for forwards toanother son called Jesus Christ alsocommitting to his father on a nearbyHill when Jesus said in Gethsemane myfather if it be possible let this cuppass from me yet not what I want butwhat you want in not raising his voiceIsaac pointed forward to the silentsubmission of the Messiah prophesied inIsaiah 53 and: 7 which says he wasoppressed and he was afflicted yet likeIsaac and as Jesus did later he opensnot his mouth he is brought as a lamb tothe slaughter as a sheep before forhashiras is dumb so he openeth not hismouth and why was the sacrifice of theLamb of God so different toward thephysical Lambs that were sacrificedbefore because none of the Lambs thatwere sacrificed before Jesus died onCalvary wanted to be sacrificed they hadto be held down to be sacrificed butwhen Jesus went to Calvary he did sowillingly you see he was in harmony withhis father's will all the other Lambswould not didn't want their throats slitbut when Jesus went he submitted hiswill uh to what was about to happen tohim willfully he knew what was about tohappen to him it was essentially a veryvery different kind of sacrifice and sothe story goes on verse 11 and the angelof the Lord called out to Isaac Abrahamfrom heaven and said Abraham Abraham andhe said here am I and he said lay notthine hand upon the lad neither do thouanything to him for now I know that thoufearest God seeing that thou Hast notwithheld thy son thine only son from methe description of Isaac has changed isno longer the son whom you love at thestart of the chapter the word love hasdropped out of the story now and it'sthine son thine only son from me and itsays Abraham lifted up his eyes andlooked and behold before him a ramcaught in a Thicket by his horns andAbraham went and took the RAM andoffered him up for a burnts offering inthe stad of his son and Abraham calledthe name of that place Jehovah Gyra orGod will provide as it is said to thisday in the Mount of the Lord it shall beseenand there was the ram caught in a rickin the thicket the ram was released fromits predicament Isa Isaac was releasedfrom the Altar and Isaac experienced TheWonder of a substitutionaryatonement now the idea of asubstitutionary atonement is thatsomebody dies in your place but Isaacknew more than anybody else the joy ofthe substitutionary atonement cuz he waslying on that altar bound ready to havehis throat slipped by his father andthen God provides another sacrifice andso we talk about the doctrine of thesubstitutionary atonement as if it'ssome kind of um some kind of DED uh drytheology preserved for theology books nothe the can you imagine what Isaac musthave felt when he experienced thatsubstitutionary atonement like joy andgratitude and relief and just sheer justsheer love for God provided way out ofhis situation yes it's reminding to usof how God invites us to feel when werealizethat despite all of our sinfulness andall our mistakes and all our and all theway we've Fallen away from God in ourlives he has given us substitute for oursins and he dies the death that wedeserve in order that we might have hiseternal life can you imagine theGratitude of this young man in Micahchapter 6: 7 God had revealed that hedoes not want human sacrifices to payfor sin but in the end salvation wouldonly come to suffering Humanity throughthe Willing sacrifice of a beloved Sonnow the text says here your son youronly son I put it up there in red thineson thine only son now in the seantwhich was the Old Testament version thatJesus would have had in his hands it'sin Greek the original Old Testament iswritten in Hebrew uh but the Jews hadtranslated into Greek before the time ofJesus it's known as the sepagan they usethe word agab agapos there which meansbeloved so when they record this theysay and thou Hast not withheld thy sonthine only belovedSon this is a phrase that is elsewhereapplied in the gospels to Jesus Christwhere God says in Matthew 3:17 this ismy beloved Son in whom I'm well pleasedat his Transfiguration God says inMatthew 17 this is my beloved Son withwhom I'm well pleased listen to him soto the Jews of the time of Jesus Isaacis a type of Jesus Christ he's he's ahuman illustration of what Jesus was isgoing to go through for you and for meand The Echoes of Calvary are many andmultiple within this story there's athree-day story line just as there wason Calvary and Resurrection morningthere is a loving father there's a childof Promise there's a promised sonthere's an only son there's an onlybeloved Son from Hebrews 11 there is anonly begotten son there's a trusting sonthere is a son submitting to the will ofhis father there's the carrying of woodup to a sacrifice on a lonely Hill andthere are two men accompanying the sonthe two servants there's a climb to agreen hill far away a sacrifice on alonely Hill a substitu substitutionarysacrifice the promise and Trust of aresurrection salvation will be on theline for all of humanity in both casesthere are multiple parallels betweenAbraham and Isaac and what happened withJesus on Calvary just over two 1500years later and Abraham says JehovahGyra God willprovide it's a beautifulname name that place is yeh God willprovide God will provide a means for ourSalvation now the word Yahweh we haven'tmentioned it we haven't gone into it inmuch detail the word Yahweh um you saywhat does it mean like Jehovah or Yahwehit simply means the self-existent one soyou and I have a family name so if Icome from Iceland and my father is hisname is Robert my name will be ConradRobertson but if I if um I have a sisterthen she'll be called let's say her nameis Anna she' be called Anna Robert'sdaughter daughter means daughter or sonmeans son so if you come from Icelandyour F your father's name is part of whoyou are you can trace your familylineage those of you from Russia heretoday you have an orist for and apatronymic yes so my wife's name is Ludalud Miller her family name is dubininabut her father's name was Vladimir andso in in in the Russian Society you haveyour first name so Luda then you haveyour patronymic that's your um yourorisa that is your father's name so ifit's a because it's a woman my wife uhshe's the daughter of Vladimir so herpatronymic isvladimirova if she was a if she was aman it would be vladimirov I think yeahsomething like that and then you she hasa family name but the point I'm makingis that each of us has a family name wehave a family lineage you can trace yourexistence in the family line through thenames that we have but when God spoke toMoses in Exodus 3 on the burning bush hesimply said I am that I am as I have nobeginning I have no end I am not I haveno father no mother I exist outside oftown outside of time and when Jesusspoke to the Jews in John 10 he said forwhich my Miracles are you going to beout stoning me they said we're not goingto Stone you for your Miracles we'regoing to kill you because you claim tobe God because Jesus Jus has said beforeAbraham was I am and that phrase I am inthe Greek there is ego is I we get theword ego from that ego and then Jesussays ego then it's Amy that means I amthat's the verb in in in Hebrew so Jesussays I I am to the Jews and he'sessentially saying I am the god whoappeared to Moses in the burningbush and what he's saying is that as theself-existent one I am outside timespace and matterso if you go back to Genesis chapter 1the most famous verse in the Bible otherthan John 3:16 is this in the beginningGod created the heavens and the earthnow we used to think before Einsteinthat time went from left to right andthen at some point in time space andmatter came intoexistence that was what Humanity tendedto think then Einstein comes along withhis general theory of relativity and hedemonstrates mathematically is that timespace and matter are intimately linkedyou cannot have one without theother so time space and matter like aball of wool all kind of mixed up witheach other you do not have time thensuddenly space and matter appear andthat's where we appear then SP timespace and matter move on together thatthere is nothing and then there is timespace and matter all linked together andthat's his theory ofrelativity that's how we understand theuniverse today in Genesis 1 says in thebeginning that is time God created theheavens and the Earth there is timespace and matter in Genesis 1:1 and yousee that God is outsidethat so what you find in Genesis 1:1 wenow discover through Einstein's theoryof general relativity time space andmatter are intimately linked and God isoutside of time space and matter youknow we tend to think that you knowMoses like a guy sitting aroundscratching himself in the dust what hewrote was prettyprofound time space and matter Genesis1:1 and God is outside of time space andmatter he is the self-existent one andthis verse here says Abraham called thename of that place the self-existent onethat is Yahweh he willprovide he is outside time he's outsidespace he's outside of matter he knowsthe future because to him there is nofuture because he exists simultaneouslypresent future and past because he'soutside of the space time and matterContinuum the God will provide the onewho is outside of time who knows yourpast who knows your present and whoknows your future the word the go that'sthe word Yahweh but the word providewhere does that come from well the wordprovide is from Latin Pro um means onbehalf of or in the future and vierethat's the verb to see so if if you sayI see in Latin you say video whatEnglish word comes from video in Latinvideo all right so the God will providethe word provide means that God seesinto the futurefuture that's what it literally meansand if God can see into the futuretherefore he can make provision for yourneeds in the future not just today if hesees the future and is in the future andknows what your needs are in the futureyou can trust him today because he knowswhat the road map is and he's already inthat future making sure it's ready foryou so Jehovah JRA has a profoundmeaning the self-existent one who isoutside of time he knows simultaneouslyyour past present and future he sees inadvance he knows the future and thusmakes perfect provision for your needstherefore he invites us to trust himtoday because nobody else knows thefuture like Abraham God knows your pastand my past yet he offers us a newchance today to demonstrate our faith inand love for theMessiah he seeks loving obedience in ourpresent and our trust in the future thathe can has and will will take care ofyour de deepest need that is forsalvation and so the phrase Jehovah Gyrais an is in is an invitation to us totrust in God and His means of ourSalvation I know what the future holds Iknow what the future can be for you foreternity going forward and I'm invitingyou to trust in me tonight for yourEternal future the Apostle Paul plays onthis he says but my God shall supply allyour need according to his riches andGloryuh by Christ Jesus the Apostle Paulapplied the principle that God willprovide not only to God providing forour salvation but also to God providingthe means for finishing the work ofSalvation here on Earth through hischurch George Müller applied thisprinciple God will provide to feedingmultitudes of hungry orphans in hisorphanages Hudson Taylor applied thisprinciple that God will provide uh toseeking funding and missionaries toprovide the work in Inland China andthen we come to verse 19and Isaac disappears from the story youthink they come back and have aparty Isaac disappears from The Book ofGenesis he appears a few chapters laterbut only when Abraham is dead says soAbraham returned unto his young menthere's no mention of Isaac on thatreturn Journey we know he's alivebecause in the next chapter Abrahamlooks for a wife for him through Eleazarhis servant but it says so Abrahamreturned unto his young men and theyrose up and they went together to BSheba and Abraham dwelt at be Sheba andI'm sure that when they got back andthey saw Sarah and Sarah says now wherehave you guysbeen I'm sure that you know maybeAbraham said you need to sit down a bithere Sarah okay have a good meal firstthen we're going to talk this throughwhen there's nobody in earshot so whatI'm about to tell you you're probablynot going to be happy with me about butit's a we have a new walk with God butin verse 19 Isaac disappears from thestory Abraham returns with those twoyoung men to be Sheba no further mentionis made of Isaac he doesn't appear atthe return Journey he doesn't appear inthe next chapter of the death of hismother he doesn't appear in chapter 24when Abraham finds a wife for Isaac andAbraham and Isaac are only mentionedtogether in chapter 25: 7 and 10 whichis when Abraham is dead and Isaac andIshmael come to bury him there is nofurther discussion ever recorded betweenAbraham and Isaac despite what they'vejust been throughever so why would Isaac just disappearfrom The Narrative well because the testwas of obedience yes but at a deeperlevel it was a test of Abraham's lovefor God the tension between fear of Godand love for Isaac had been resolved thetest had proved Abraham's Supreme lovefor God and so for the rest of Abraham'sdays The Narrative keeps Father and Sonseparated just as the most famous versein the word world says this for God soloved the world that he gave his onlybegotten son you may paraphrase it fromthis story and say Abraham so loved Godthat he gave his only belovedSon the test of faith was an expressionof Love on Abraham's part so what iswhat does it mean to inherit the faithof Abraham this is our last section hereI see our time is moving on according toRomans 4:1 Abraham is the father of thefaithful so who are Abraham'sdescendants today is it the ethnic Jewswho live inJerusalem is it maybe the Lost tribe ofIsrael if they could find themselves andTrace themselves genetically uh you knowthe the state of Israel has beenscouring the world looking for peoplewho are they think from their from theirgenes are ethnicJews and a few years ago there was anoperation to airlift tens of thousandsof people from Ethiopia who they thoughtwere one of the Lost tribes of Israelback into into Israel and so the Israeligovernment is looking for the Losttribes of Israel because the only truetribes that came back were from Judahand Benjamin after the Babyloniancaptivity the other 10 tribesdisappeared after the after they weretaken captive by by the Assyrians so whoare Abraham's descendants today if he'sthe father of the faithful what does itmean to have the faith of Abraham todaywell there's a couple of verses we wantto look at and the first is this Paulsaid says Paul says this he said it isnot as though the word of God has failedfor not all the Israelites truly belongto Israel that is if you are part ofethnic Israel that doesn't make youtruly part of God's Israel there's adistinction here and not all Abraham'schildren that is his his biologicaldescent are his true descendants but andhe quotes it is through Isaac thatdescendant shall be named after you thusit is not the children of the flesh thatis the biological descendants of Isaacwho are the children of of Abraham whoare the true children of Abraham but isthe children of the promise those whoregardless of ethnic background are bornagain into the promise of the Messiahthe concept of spiritual Israelites Paulgoes on to make it clear in Ro in genGalatians 36 and9 he makes it clear thatthe descendants of Abraham are those whoaccept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviorregardless of their ethnic background hesays even as Abraham believed God and itwas accounted to him for righteousnessknow ye therefore that they which are ofFaith the same of the children ofAbraham so we have the element of Faithnow and the scriptures foreseeing thatGod would justify the Heathen throughfaith preached the gospel unto Abrahamsaying in the shall All Nations beblessed that is the Gentiles so thenthey that which be of Faith are blessedwith faithful Abraham so uh you are partone of Abraham's descendant if you havefaith but the question is what is thefocus of that Faith because that faithhas to have a focus you can't just say II got faith what is the focus of thatFaith the Apostle Paul goes on to Defineit for us he says know that a manis not justified by The Works of the lawbut by the faith of Jesus Christ even wehave believed in who in Jesus Christthat we might be justified by the Faithof Christ and not by The Works of thelaw for by The Works of the law shall noflesh be justified and so we are we arethe descendants of Abraham when we havefaith yes but that faith is in the deathof Jesus Christ the substitutionaryatonement as Scholars would call it anddiscussing that faith in Jesus ChristPaul goes on with his very famouspassage he says for I through the law amdead to the law that I might live untoGod I'm crucified with Christnevertheless I live yet not I but Christliveth in me and the life which I nowlive in the flesh I live by faith andthe Son of God who loved me and gavehimself forme and that phrase and gave himself forme it's in the middle middle voice inGreek that means he himself handedhimself over for me it wasn't that hewas like taken by Wicked men and theykilled him the sense of that verb thereis that Jesus himself handed himselfwilling willingly over for you and forme thus the true descendants of Abrahamtoday they trust exclusively in the LordJesus Christ for their salvation andright standing before God that is knownas justification they ask Jesus to livein them that is known assanctification and they understand andaccept his sacrifice in their place thatthey might live that is known as thesubstitutionary atonement that is whatIsaac experienced on Mount Mariah andthis faith in Jesus Christ is expressedwhen you go through the waters of bab ofbaptism you die to your old life of sinand you rise to newness of life in thelife of the spirit that we've beentalking about earlier this week and inthe body of Christ there are no longerany social or ethnic distinctionsbecause we are all one in the body ofChrist for as many of you as as havebeen baptized into Christ have put onChrist there is in the body of Christneither Jew nor Greek neither bonds norfree that is free nor slave there wasneither male nor female for you are allone in Christ Jesus and that is thesolution that Jesus Christ provides tothe ethnic and racial tensions thatdivide our worldtoday isn't it wonderful that we can seea congregation like this there arepeople drawn from every nation tribelanguage and people and we can love eachother and that when the world says thisgroup must hate that group and thatgroup must must look down on anothergroup and that that group over theremust resent that group God says no in mychurch there's been nothing but mutuallysacrificial love and you are to serveone another in love and the freedom ofthe Gospel is not freedom to um satisfyyour appetites the freedom of the Gospelis to serve one another in love and it'sa beautiful thing that when we cometogether from every nation tribelanguage and people we can say to theworld we don't accept your division wedon't accept your Prejudice and bigotryWe Are One in Jesus Christ because weare all his children and so the gospelit creates a body of people who strivefor thatideal and we refuse to be divided outinto the groups that this world saysthat group is important and that groupis important no we are all one in JesusChrist and so for such individualsregardless of our ethnic background ifwe believe in God's provision ofSalvation through our faith in JesusChrist if we accept his sacrifice onCalvary on our place and if we enter thebody of Believers and the body of Christthrough the waters of baptism and theexperience of of the spiritual new birthand new heart experience there is thispromise of God to you tonight and if youbelong to Christ then you are Abraham'soffspring or seed and hirs according tothe promise you are an heir of SalvationAnd The Riches of heaven await for thosewho enter the body of Christ and remainwithin it through faith on a day-to-daybasis now I don't know how you know whatyour parents are like how rich orwealthy or poor they may be but in manycountries these days if your parents dieyou're hit with with inheritance taxesam I right yes and if you got smartparents they'd put all their assets intoa trust so that when they die you alsoone of the managers of that trustthere's no inheritance tax so there'sways of getting round inheritance taxesin many countries today okay butaccording to this according to thisverse here when you are one of Abraham'sseed spiritually and you belong to JesusChrist then it ity and the riches ofHeaven belong to you and you have thatpromise fromGod and we know it's a promise from Godbecause the Bible the we have the NewTestament the New Testament now know youhave the Old Testament and the NewTestament a testament technically is issomebody's lastwill Jesus died and he rose again andbecause he died the New Testament laysout the riches he's left for hischildren and we are HS of all thosepromisestoday so regardless of who your Earthlyparents are when you enter the body ofChrist you are Heirs of the riches ofChrist salvation and the promises ofHeaven and the riches of Heaven BelongTo You by faith It's a Wonderful promiseyes it's a beautiful promise from God sowhat do we conclude withtonight the God whoprovides according to thescriptures Abraham was the father of thefaithful and the the faithful have thefollowing four characteristics numberone they believe God's promises toAbraham of justification or beingdeclared innocent for All Families onplanet Earth through the Gospel of JesusChrist number two they trust that onCalvary in Jesus substitutionaryatonement Jesus died in their place thatis the only means for their SalvationAnd when they accept that they ask himto live within them to bring about theirsanctification number three they arebaptized into the body of of Christ intoa body where we work to ensure there areno social ethnic or gender distinctionsand four we receive the gift of eternallife and we are united in love for oneanother by the work of the holy spiritin our midst this world seeks to divideHumanity into every group known to manbut the gospel seeks to bring ustogether the gospel is a standing rebuketo the hatred and the tribalism and theethnic Prejudice and the bigotry and thepride that that te our Nationsapart is rebuked to everything thatSatan would use to divide us and it's abeautiful promise that we are all driventaken from one lineage from the line ofAdam then from the line of Noah and oneday when we get to heaven we will all begathered at that tree of life just asAdam and Eve were back in the originalGarden of Eden it's a beautiful promisefrom God and those who want that promisetonight are invited to place your trustsin Jehovah Gyra or Yahweh y he is thegod who sees into the future The God Whois outside of time and space and matterthe God who sees into the future becausehe's already there he knows your futureand he knows the home that he'spreparing in Heaven above for you he isthe God who provides for yesterday fortoday and for tomorrow he knows yourfuture Sor he knows your yesterday heunderstands the Troubles of today hesees your future and indeed is makingyour future right now and he's makingfull provision for your Eternal futureand your eternal life and your Eternalhome in Heaven above I gave my life toJesus when I was 13 years of age it wasthe best decision I ever made andtomorrow we have at least four maybefive maybe some more young people havesaid during this week we want to giveour lives to Jehovah Gyra we're going totrust him not just for today but fortomorrow and maybe there's somebody heretonight maybe some of you are watchingonline maybe you've listened to thisseries you realize that we serve anIncredible God and the names of God justjust Express so much Beauty in hischaracter he's The God Who will fightyour battles for you he's The God Whowill come looking for you to find you inyour hour of greatest need he's The GodWho invites you to trust you for hisfuture he's The God Who invites you tolook to Calvary in faith Jehovah and ElNissi and uh he is the god tonight whois who will provide for your EternalfutureI trusthim there is a very famous story ourtime is up I know you want to get homeand get to sleep it's Fridaynight there was a amen said somebodyyes uh the first recorded martydom inChristian history was a man calledpolycarp he was a bishop in Smyrna inWestern turkey and he was arrested bythe Romans he was 86 years old in factyou can Google it the mar of polycarpthe early Christians wrote a book aboutit and he was hauled before the Romangovernor in Western turkey and they saidwe want you to offer incense to theRoman Governor or we're going to throwyou to the Lions and his response wasthis famous words he says four score andsix years have I served my Lord and hehas done me nowrong so why should I deny himnow and my testimony to you tonight isthat for for two score years in my lifeI've served my Lord and he has done meno wrong so why would I deny him now andeach one of us here tonight needs to beable to stand up one day and say twoscore three score four score years haveI served Jehovah Gyra and he has done meno wrong so why should I deny him in aworld that says we will not have thisman to rule over to us so if you want togo through the waters of baptism youwant to join you want to prepare forbaptism maybe you want to come down tothe front after our program tonight andwith the pastors we'll talk with youpreparing for baptism is a seriousmatter it's not just a matter of emotionin the evening it's it's entering into acovenant relationship with God thatoverrides all otherrelationships but it also permeates andblesses all your relationships as wellbut you have to make that decision thatI'm going to be part be within acovenant relationship with Jesus Christtomorrow we will have a baptism inviteyou to be there at 4:00 down at thebeach and if you would like to preparefor baptism come and meet with myselfand the pastors afterwards here and forthose those of you watching online ifyou would also like to prepare forbaptism connect with your localAdventist pastor and prepare because ifyou prepare for baptism today you havethe promise that Jesus is preparing ahome for you in heaven above let's bowour heads and we'll close our timetogether with a word of prayer heavenlyfather I want to thank you that you arethe God who sees you are the God whoprovides You Are An Almighty powerfulGod who fights battles for your childrenyou are the banner when lifted high willdraw all people to yourself you are thegod um of Peace who commands us tofollow you and when we follow you we'reenity with the gods of this world andtonight father we want to thank you thatyou are Jehovah Gyra you are the godoutside of time and history who seesinto our future and who knows our futureand who's inviting us tonight to trustyou that you who love us and who've umlaid given us the riches of Heaven inthe past that you're going to bring usthrough to that Heavenly home once againso father we thank you for the gift ofJesus we thank you for his death onCalvary we thank you for the promise ofhis soon return we thank you for thepromise that for all who believe thereis that home Heavenly home where thestreets are gold and where death anddisease and sorrow are no more sotonight father be the Lord Of Our Livesbe the God who provides for ourSalvation this is our prayer in jesus'nameamen so we invite you to come backtomorrow we will have a baptism at 4:00tomorrow tomorrow our sermon will be onthe story of Pilot's Wife who wrote toher husband said having nothing to dowith this man for I had a dream abouthim tonight that's the focus of oursermon tomorrow it's a beautiful