[0:00] Genesis chapter 22, if you're there, verses 1-14, if you would stand with me as we honor the reading of God's word together.
[0:27] ! 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 on which I shall tell you.
[0:46] So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
[0:57] On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.
[1:11] And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went, both of them together. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham. And Isaac said to his father, Abraham.
[1:23] 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?
[1:35] Abraham said, God will provide for himself The lamb of a burnt offering, my son.
[1:48] So they went, both of them together. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
[2:06] Then Abraham reached out his hand and he took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham. Abraham.
[2:18] 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.
[2:30] Your only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
[2:43] And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The Lord Will Provide as it is said to this day on the mountain of the Lord it shall be provided.
[3:00] And God had a blessing to the reading of his word. Would you please be seated? You all know that I'm passionate about sports, especially team sports and most especially baseball.
[3:17] I love the game. I enjoyed playing it and I've really enjoyed being one of the coaches on my son's baseball team. and I've loved teaching and I've loved passing on to the next generation all the aspects of baseball that make it such a great game.
[3:36] And I enjoy seeing them getting better as they come to understand how to play the game the right way. There are many facets of baseball that I think are applicable to real life.
[3:55] The importance of being a good teammate, of working with others to achieve a common goal together. Putting your team before yourself.
[4:08] Playing for the name on the front of the jersey instead of the name on the back. As a batter in baseball, the goal is to get on base. Walks accomplish that.
[4:20] Walks are good, but hits, especially doubles and triples and home runs are the most effective way to score runs and to win games. But baseball is difficult.
[4:33] It's the only sport, maybe the only thing where you can fail seven out of ten times and consider to be good, if not great. Most at-bats end in outs.
[4:48] But some of those outs are productive. They can help the team win. In baseball, those productive outs are called sacrifices.
[5:00] For example, when a runner is standing on third with less than two outs and a fly ball is hit deep enough to the outfield, even though that ball is caught and that hitter is out, the runner can tag up and score.
[5:14] And in baseball, we call that a sacrifice fly. There is also a sacrifice bunt. You know, this is when the batter squares around and tries to just tap the ball somewhere around the pitcher's mound.
[5:30] And he does that to advance the runners and maybe even score one. And that is called a sacrifice bunt because the hitter is giving himself up.
[5:43] He's willingly taking the out to put their team in a better position to win. Now, I'll tell you that the concept of a productive out and of sacrifice has been one of the hardest things to communicate to Jack and his 11-year-old teammates.
[6:07] they want to get on base. They want to swing the bat. They want to swing away. They want the glory that comes with getting the big hit.
[6:19] And so, as coaches, we've had to console a lot of young men in the dugout who made a productive out and helped them understand that what you did, your sacrifice, has helped us as a team.
[6:34] But I remember when I was playing and I remember stepping out of the batter's box and looking down to my coach and getting the sign to bunt and being immediately filled with feelings of self-pity.
[6:52] I don't want to do that. I want a hit. I want to be the hero. And people are watching. This is embarrassing.
[7:05] What kind of, you know, what kind of kid ever imagines themselves in a crucial situation in a critical game laying down a bunt, sacrificing themselves to advance the runner so that the next guy can get the big hit and all the glory?
[7:23] No kid does that. I bring this up because I think that just as that is often the attitude towards sacrifice in baseball, so it's the attitude that we often have towards sacrifice in life.
[7:41] The thought of suffering loss, of renouncing self-glory, of enduring injury, of not receiving the credit, of losing something we desire fills us with feelings of self-pity because the sin nature that we're all born with desires self-glory, not self-sacrifice.
[8:10] By nature, we are self-absorbed people always asking or thinking what's in it for me? especially when we're called or asked to make some kind of sacrifice.
[8:26] In our text today, Abraham is called upon by God to make a sacrifice. A sacrifice that far exceeds any sacrifice that you or I have ever been asked to make.
[8:40] But in his willingness to do the unthinkable, God teaches us that he is a provider like no other. And so the main idea for this morning's sermon is that the Lord provides.
[8:54] The Lord provides. Now this is the third sermon of a series of messages on biblical typology. Typology is a special kind of symbolism.
[9:08] A type in scripture is a person or an object in the Old Testament that foreshadows a person or an object in the New Testament. And it's through typology that God reveals to us that all of the Bible, though written by many different authors over thousands of years, is truly one story about one person and his name is Jesus Christ.
[9:37] And so our text today teaches us that in sacrifice God provides. The story of Abraham in Genesis chapter 22 verses 1 through 14 foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice that God would one day make.
[9:54] A sacrifice that cost him more pain and suffering than any sacrifice, again, that you or I have ever made or will ever be asked to make.
[10:08] Our scripture today can be divided into two scenes, which collectively reveal how great of a provider our God is.
[10:19] And so the first scene in verses 1 through 10, we see that Abraham is asked to make a sacrifice. Abraham is asked to make a sacrifice. Let's look at that passage again in verses 1 through 2.
[10:32] 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 mount of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on the mountain of which I shall tell you.
[10:48] Now, if all the Bible you had was just these first 22 chapters, or if you were reading the Bible for the very first time from the beginning and you got to this point, I think you would read it and you would think this is a very strange request that seems totally out of character with whom God has revealed himself to be.
[11:15] And the request seems rather abrupt. Just when everything seems to be going Abraham's way, Isaac, the son of the promise, had finally arrived 25 years after God had told Abraham that his barren bride would give birth.
[11:35] And then Abraham, he's just worked out a deal with Abimelech, the king of the Philistines, sealing a covenant with him that would allow both their people to prosper in the land that they shared.
[11:48] And then this strange request comes to completely take the wind, I think, out of Abraham's sails. Imagine being in Abraham's place and receiving that request.
[12:02] What would you be thinking? Come again? What did you say? I don't think I heard that correctly. Or maybe you can't be serious.
[12:15] If you were Abraham, you might be filled with feelings of self-pity. Because to this point, Abraham had already sacrificed a lot in obedience to God.
[12:27] Abraham's story begins in Genesis chapter 11 verse 26. We don't know much about his life before God called him. We know he was 75 years old and he lived in the land of Ur and he was more than likely an idol worshiper.
[12:46] We know that he wasn't seeking God. He may not even have known who the one true God was. But God chose to reveal himself to him and he did so with this incredible promise that we read in Genesis chapter 12 verses 1 through 3.
[13:03] Now the Lord said to Abraham, go from your country and from your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you and I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you and make your name great so that you will be a blessing.
[13:17] I will bless those who bless you and I will dishonor those who dishonor you and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
[13:29] And so God actually makes three promises to Abraham. The promise of a land of his own, the promise that he would be made into a great nation and the promise of blessing, tremendous blessing.
[13:44] And those three promises they form what would later be called the Abrahamic covenant. And God ratified that covenant with Abraham in Genesis chapter 17 changing his name from Abram which meant exalted father to Abraham which meant father of many nations.
[14:04] Abraham obeyed God. He trusted God. He put his faith in God. Now you might be tempted to think that if you were Abraham and God called to you like he called to him that you do the same thing.
[14:21] But let's be real. Let's be honest. How many of you would leave everything behind? Your family, your friends, your work, your community, all that is familiar to you and has been familiar to you for 75 years and just go without knowing where you were going.
[14:46] Without knowing your destination. Now we live in a day of GPS. GPS. Thank God for GPS for directionally challenged people like me.
[14:59] I've lived in Bartlesville for almost six years and I still have to use GPS to figure out where things are downtown. We like to know the exact coordinates to where we are going and when it is that we're going to get there.
[15:19] And if God told you to pack up whatever you had, whatever you could fit into a U-Haul and head in that direction, how would you respond? And also the concept of family meant everything to a person living in Abraham's day.
[15:36] The family unit was strongly knit. It was extremely unusual for family members to live hundreds of miles apart in this culture.
[15:47] And Abraham again lived in the land of Ur, which was located in Haran. In that region, people worshipped the Babylonian pantheon of gods, in particular the moon god, sin.
[16:05] But God called Abraham out of that false religion, away from his family, away from all that was familiar, to worship him and to serve him, to obey him and to follow him.
[16:27] And the rest of Abraham's life to that point was filled with ups and downs. Many of those downs were caused by Abraham's own sin. But what we read, what we see is God is consistently, consummately gracious to Abraham time and time again.
[16:44] His sin caused himself and many others grief, but God continually provided and God continually blessed. And though Sarah, Abraham's wife, laughed in disbelief that God would bless her and Abraham with a son at their old age, God still fulfilled his promise, which apart from his salvation, had to have been the greatest blessing that Abraham had ever received from God.
[17:13] God. So the key to understanding this passage is to comprehend what Isaac meant to Abraham. He was Abraham's offspring.
[17:25] He was the immediate fulfillment of the cosmic promise that God had made to him in Genesis chapter 12. He is the offspring through whom God would save and bless the world.
[17:39] Let's look at Genesis 15, 5 as God continued to reiterate this promise. Says, and God brought him outside and said, look toward heaven and number the stars if you are able to number them.
[17:56] Then he said to him, so shall your offspring be. In Genesis 17, 7 through 8, God says to Abraham, and I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout the generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and to your offspring after you.
[18:15] And I will give to you and your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God. In the meanwhile, Isaac was the offspring of what would become the nation of Israel.
[18:31] In the long run, and now I'm getting a little ahead of myself here, the greatest offspring of Abraham's descendants is the Messiah, Jesus Christ, through whom all the nations would be blessed, as we read in Galatians 3, 16.
[18:47] Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say and to offsprings referring to many, but referring to one and to your offspring who is Christ.
[19:00] So understand just how precious Isaac was to Abraham, his father. You know, I love babies.
[19:12] And as a pastor, I've gotten to visit a lot of newborn babies in the hospital. And there's a lot of joy for me in that, but I tell you that there's also a lot of fear and trepidation in that as well.
[19:25] Whenever mom or dad asks, would you like to hold him, would you like to hold her? And I do, I really do. There's a part of me that's like, yes, I came here because I really want to hold your baby. And that's honest.
[19:37] But then there's another side of me that's like, oh my goodness, whatever you do, don't drop the baby. Right? Could you imagine being Abraham and holding Isaac, this son who meant so much?
[19:57] Now dads, remember the first time that you held your child in your arms? How amazing was that? How special was that? You know, we see in our children a hope for a future, don't we?
[20:12] You know, I know for me that the Scrivani family line came down to me. And I had to, it was up to me to produce a son who would continue on the family heritage.
[20:23] And when Jack was born, felt a sense of relief, right? That job had been done. That was important. He's important. Both of my kids are. But this child, at this time, was the hope of the world.
[20:41] No Isaac, no Israel, no Israel, no Jesus, no Jesus, no salvation. Imagine the kind of helicopter parents that Abraham and Sarah might have been.
[20:53] So yes, Abraham had been asked to make sacrifices, and though he sinned in very big ways, God has been gracious. Abraham has been faithful.
[21:04] And every sacrifice Abraham was asked by God to make ultimately resulted in blessing for him, and blessing for others. But, we can't help but ask, how could this sacrifice possibly result in blessing?
[21:20] blessing? And we wonder, what will Abraham do? And again, I ask you, what would you do if you were asked to make such a sacrifice?
[21:32] You know, it's Father's Day. Think about it, dads. I know some of you, or all of you, hopefully. But I know this about some of you.
[21:43] When it comes to killing things that you hate, like spiders, or mice, or snakes, I know there's a fear in you to kill things that you even hate.
[22:00] Imagine being asked to kill something that you loved. Loved as much as your child. It's unfathomable. It's unthinkable.
[22:12] But in verses 3 through 6, we read that Abraham put up no protest when God asked him to do that. He obeyed, and once again, he goes.
[22:24] So in verse 6, we read, So Abraham rose in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and rose and went to the place of which God had told him.
[22:35] On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.
[22:47] So we're starting to get a peek into Abraham's frame of mind. And we continue. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife, so they went both of them together.
[23:01] Now, Isaac, at this point, he's no longer a baby. He's old, older, old enough to carry a large pile of wood on his back.
[23:13] He's old enough to converse. Most commentators believe he was probably around the age of 18 to 20. In verse 7, we hear him speak.
[23:24] And he asks a really good question. Now, he doesn't know what God has told Abraham, his father, about sacrificing him.
[23:36] All he knows is that a sacrifice is to be made, but he's unaware that he is it. And so in verse 7, it says, And Isaac said to his father Abraham, my father, and Abraham said, Here I am, my son.
[23:52] He said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Now, again, imagine being Abraham. What a spot to be put in here, right?
[24:06] What will he say? Well, you see, son, I know that I've told you that you're a miracle child. You're a promised child, a child in whom God said he would bless a nation.
[24:22] Bless the world. But God's asked me to sacrifice you. And I don't understand it. I don't know what God is thinking.
[24:32] He must be crazy. This whole thing is ludicrous to me. I don't think God knows what he's doing anymore. I'm not sure that we can still trust him. He doesn't say that.
[24:46] Fathers, you are called, you are commanded by God to be the spiritual leader in your house.
[25:00] Never act in a way or speak in a way that discourages your children's faith in God. God. And I thank God for a father whose faith was never shaken.
[25:17] No matter what, my dad's faith in God was always strong. And may we all be fathers like that to our children.
[25:29] And Abraham answers his son in verse eight. Abraham said, God will provide. God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.
[25:45] So they both went up together. Again, to be sure and make no doubt, Abraham had his moments of failure. And the Bible doesn't hide those failures. It doesn't sugarcoat those failures.
[25:57] Twice he lied about Sarah being his wife and was willing to give her to other men to know her in an intimate sense in order to save his life.
[26:09] But God intervened in those moments, protecting and blessing them still. Later, Sarah suggested Abraham have a child with her servant Hagar because she couldn't wait any longer for God's promise and probably doubted that it would ever happen.
[26:23] And regrettably, Abraham agreed to do that, which resulted in the birth of a son named Ishmael. But God reveals his grace even in that, allowing the birth of that child to take place and then providing for he and his mother when Sarah kicked them out of their home.
[26:48] And reaffirming still his promise and intentions for Isaac. Yet despite all this, the Bible repeatedly esteems Abraham as a father of the faithful and uses him as the example of the great gospel truth that justification is by faith.
[27:12] Romans 4.3 says, for what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. Abraham did nothing to earn God's favor, grace by definition cannot be earned.
[27:25] He received God's righteousness because God chose him and because God called him. Abraham, though he sinned big, trusted God and in his word and God credited his own righteousness to Abraham, this big sinner's account.
[27:45] And that, by the way, is how God has always operated and continues to operate today. Like Abraham, you can be a great, big sinner.
[27:59] But God is a much bigger and more gracious Savior. And so in verse 9 through 10, as we continue, when they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
[28:20] Then Abraham reached out his hand and he took the knife to slaughter his son. And still we ask, without knowing the rest of the story or the rest of the Bible, how could Abraham bring himself to do that?
[28:39] Well, in Hebrews 11, God's holy and Aaron inspired word, it lets us into the mind and the thoughts and the heart of Abraham in this moment.
[28:51] Let's read Hebrews 11, 17 through 19. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named, he considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead.
[29:17] Abraham considered that God was able to bring dead people back to life. Because two things must have been going on in his mind at this point.
[29:29] This is the son of the promise. And he must live for God's promise to be fulfilled. But God has commanded me to sacrifice him.
[29:45] How can these things be? Well, it must be that God will bring him back to life. And God didn't specifically say that to Abraham.
[30:00] But Abraham trusted in whom God had revealed himself to be. And his faith overcame whatever doubts that he may have had. And you know, though we may experience things in this life that they just don't seem to compute, they just don't seem to add up.
[30:17] And we wonder why. God is gracious to allow us to ask him those questions in prayer. And he's gracious to provide answers to those questions, primarily through his word.
[30:33] And I know for me, whenever things happen in my life, and I'm like, I don't understand that, God. The one verse that continually is brought to my attention is Romans 8, 28. And we know that for those who love God, all things, no matter how you might perceive them, no matter what you might think about them, all things work together in the end for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
[30:59] And so Abraham trusted that God would be true to his word, that God would be true to his promise, and that he would provide. And that's exactly what God did.
[31:10] Though Abraham was asked to make a sacrifice in scene one, in scene two, we see that God provides a substitute.
[31:21] Abraham is asked to make a sacrifice, but ultimately it is God who provides a substitute. Again, we read verses 11 through 14.
[31:32] But the angel of the Lord. Now, that's important because usually whenever the Bible speaks of the angel of the Lord, it's referring to the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ.
[31:47] Very well may be the case right here. 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.
[32:07] And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided.
[32:24] Then Abraham goes on to sacrifice the ram in the place of his son, just as God commanded. God provided a substitute in the place of his much beloved son.
[32:42] Now imagine being Abraham. What a relief, right? Right? And I intentionally left out the end of Hebrews chapter 11, verse 19, so that we can go back and look at it now.
[32:58] He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, and this is what I want you to see, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
[33:09] In the New American Standard, the Greek word translated as figure or figuratively speaking is type. And now we've come full circle, right?
[33:22] Abraham received Isaac back by God, providing a substitute as a type. A type of what? A picture of whom?
[33:35] Who was it who put his life on the altar and came back from the dead? Jesus.
[33:46] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus really died as a substitute sacrifice. Jesus. And in some awesome and mysterious way, thousands of years before he would make that substitute sacrifice, Jesus says in John 8, 56, your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see my day and he saw it and rejoiced.
[34:18] And in this beautiful, poetic twist to what otherwise looked like a dreadful story, Abraham and Isaac's time on the hill of sacrifice ended with Abraham naming it Moriah, a forever reminder to generations generations to come of what would take place there.
[34:44] One day. One day. The Lord will provide. And as Abraham said in Genesis chapter 22, verse 14, the Lord will provide a lamb.
[34:59] On that day. When Abraham went to sacrifice his son, a ram was provided by God and emerged from a thicket of thorns as a substitute to spare the life of a covenantal son.
[35:22] But on a much later date, another young man who was the promised lamb of God would follow in Isaac's steps.
[35:36] From a thicket of thorns, a crown was fashioned and placed on his head as he bore wood, the cross on his back to a place where he would be sacrificed.
[35:56] But this beloved son of his father would not be spared. That son, the greater Isaac, the better sacrifice would give his life for ultimate blessing to his people.
[36:18] As Hebrews 2, 14 through 15 says, since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself, speaking of Jesus likewise, partook of the same things.
[36:30] That through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.
[36:42] Jesus plundered the keys of death and Hades to secure eternal victory to all who share Abraham's faith.
[37:01] The Lord provided himself both the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, who is also the Lion of Judah, who will one day rule the nations from Mount Moriah, the location of which Jerusalem was built and sits today.
[37:24] Jesus was a willing substitute. And through his life, his death, his resurrection, he provided and secured a salvation for us. Jesus, why?
[37:37] Why? John 3, 16. For God so loved the world.
[37:54] God so loved you. God so loved you.
[38:26] He said, unlike Isaac, Jesus knew that he came as a sacrifice. Jesus knew that he was coming to a world cursed by sin and that he himself would be cursed on the cross to atone for sins.
[38:47] He knew and he was willing. He said it over and over again. And in one of those places, Mark 10, 45, he said, For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[39:06] So please understand this. Please believe this. Please have faith in this, our main application for this morning's sermon. God the Father substituted his Son, providing him as a sacrifice to save us from our sins.
[39:25] And when we think of all this, when you think of how sinful you are, how unworthy you are, fathers, to think about giving up your child for someone else, and we think of these things, I think we can't help but ask, how can you not love a Savior like this?
[39:51] How can you not trust in a Savior like Jesus? How can you not be devoted to him who sacrificed himself for you in love?
[40:09] And you know, I understand, maybe you weren't blessed with a godly father. But let me tell you, in Christ, you have a good father now.
[40:19] And understand this as well. Jesus saves you, he gives you his righteousness, he cleanses you of your sin, he gives you new life, you're a new creation.
[40:35] But that also comes with the sacrifice. As he said in Luke 14, 27, Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.
[40:49] This means he's number one. When you're saved, Jesus is Lord, Jesus is Master, Jesus is Boss. He's not my spiritual advisor.
[41:01] He's not just my good friend. He's not somebody whose shoulder I can cry on. He's those things. But he's so, so much more.
[41:12] He's the King of Kings. He's the Lord of Lords. In Christ, he's your boss. And whatever he asks you to do, you say yes.
[41:28] And whatever sacrifice that he asks you to make in following him, understand that it's totally worth it. Because God blesses obedience. Both in this life and the life to come.
[41:42] And I promise you that when you reach the end of your days, no sacrifice made for Jesus will ever have been made in vain. You won't regret one of them. Not one of them.
[41:54] Every yes response to whatever God has commanded you to do will have been totally, absolutely worth it.
[42:05] And that's one thing I've learned in my walk with the Lord. And I'm sure many of you can say the same thing as well. And that's not to trust myself. But to trust in God.
[42:18] Because he provides. And he's provided ultimately the one who has purchased our pardon and freedom from sin.
[42:28] So the Bible makes this appeal to us. Romans 12, 1 through 2. Charles Spurgeon said, It's our duty, speaking of Christians, and privilege to exhaust our lives for Jesus.
[43:10] We are not to be living specimens of men and find preservation, but living sacrifices whose lot it is to be consumed.
[43:20] Consumed by what? Whatever it takes. Whatever it means for Christ to be glorified in your life.
[43:35] If God calls you to lay down a sacrifice bunt to advance his kingdom purposes, you do it. And you do it gladly.
[43:49] Because all glory and honor and praise be to him who has given us grace and truth and freedom and joy and peace and purpose and love and life.
[44:05] And if you're here this morning and you don't know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I'm telling you that you are here by God's divine design. He wants you to hear this message.
[44:18] He wants you to hear this word. He wants you to know him as God the Father. Having put your faith in Jesus Christ, his son, who died for sinners.
[44:31] It's not about you being good enough or, you know, getting some help with some of the sins that you struggle with. No, you just come. You come humbly and in faith and you will be received and you will be clothed in the righteousness of God.
[44:47] You will be saved. You will be new. You will have life. You'll have it in abundance. And there will be joy and there will be peace that you've never known before.
[44:58] One application question. How should Christ's sacrifice motivate you to live sacrificially? Think about it.
[45:09] In every role that he's called you to be a part of. In his body. How should his sacrifice motivate you in every aspect of your life to live sacrificially for him?
[45:24] Let's pray. Let's pray. Lord, we are so amazed by how good you are to sinners like us.
[45:38] God, that you would give your only son. That, Lord, you would be willing to come humbling yourself as a servant to be beaten and mocked and ridiculed and nailed to a cross and to bleed and to suffer and to die.
[46:07] Enduring the wrath that we deserve for our sins. And then rising victoriously on the third day.
[46:19] Ascending later to where you are at the right hand of the Father where you continually work on our behalf. Making intercession for us.
[46:30] Because you love us. God, may our love for you propel us in this life that you've given us to make much of the name of Jesus Christ.
[46:43] That whatever you ask of us to do that we wouldn't think, well, that's too small for me or that's too hard for me or that's too uncomfortable for me. But that we would say yes. Because you know what you're doing.
[46:55] And you're worthy. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.