Sermon Cloud

As I was preparing for this sermon series, I ran across the June 2008 issue of Reader’s Digest which captured my attention with the headline reading, “SAVE YOURSELF.”  Since I am in the business of telling people how they be rescued, I was curious to learn more.  So, upon further investigation, I turned with interest to the issue’s feature article with was titled, “Save Your Own Life: How a chair, rocks, aspirin, and a scarf can keep you alive in 12 do-or-die emergencies.”  The purpose of the article is to help you give you some options, besides calling 911, when faced with one of their listed 12 life-threatening emergencies and no one is around.

Since I don’t know what your vacationing plans will be this Fall/Winter, let me at least share with you how you on page 178 how Pamela F. Gallin, MD feels you can survive a bear attack without calling 911.

Well, isn’t it amazing that at almost the exact time that our country is voting its next president, we have been experiencing such economic upheaval?  It is as if every time you hear the word RESCUE it has to do with an economic rescue.  The “great rescue plan” from our economic woes seems to be so much in the forefront of the news, the media, the blogs, and the presidential debates.

Before any of this had come to the forefront in our nation, I had put together our sermon series for the months of November and December.  I have entitled the series, Rescue 911.

Purpose: Generally, the purpose is to show that the whole story of the Bible (especially OT) is centered on a baby, the Child upon whom everything would depend.  Specifically, the purpose is to examine several familiar OT stories and focus on how God rescues His people or servants.  Each message will expose how the coming of Jesus’ fits together with God’s Great Rescue Plan.

In the very beginning of the Bible, we see the first promise of God’s Great Rescue Plan in Genesis 3:15.  Some even call this verse, “The Bible in emryo.”

 15 And I will put enmity
      Between you and the woman,
      And between your seed and her Seed;
      He shall bruise your head, (a DEATH BLOW)
      And you shall bruise His heel.” (a TEMPORARY HURT)

OT: Genesis 9:11, “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

NT: Hebrews 9:11, “But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come…”

Theme: The Old Testament points to Jesus as the Great Rescuer of God’s people.

This morning we are going to see how God provides a great rescue.  We are going to look in the Old Testament at Genesis 22:1-14 = Isaac’s Rescue from Death.

Read Genesis 22:1-14.

Now I want to do something with this text that is somewhat different than many sermons on this particular story.  Many teach and preach that the moral of this story is to do whatever God tells you no matter how outlandish it seems.  We are to have the amazing faith of Abraham.  We are to obey God perfectly and do it no matter what.

But, in my study and reading of scripture as of late, I have been convicted that the Old Testament is not primarily written JUST for obedience.  I have recommitted myself to teach and preach the Old Testament not just for our ethical edification.

Instead, I believe that Genesis 22 is a tremendous passage that teaches the redemptive storyline of Jesus.  And it stands as a grand disclosure of how God is going to reconcile both, how to be holy and just at the same time.

·         First, notice that the focus is not how strong Abraham’s faith is amidst such a strenuous test, but instead, it is HOW DOES GOD PROVIDE?  Or maybe WILL GOD PROVIDE?

Notice how the narrative slows down at just the point to bring focus to this question. The story is very fast paced until verse 6 and then the narrative goes into slow motion until verse 8.

Then, Abraham celebrates this experience by naming the place, “The Lord Will Provide.” (v.14)

If there is any testing taking place, it is the testing of whether Abraham will recognize the great provision of God by rescuing his son from an impending death.

Practically speaking, I believe one of the most important questions for us this morning is to ask whether we are really trusting in the reality that God provides for us.  Are you fully confident this morning that God is your provider?  Are you overwhelmed this morning with a strong sense and assurance that God has provided for every need you have and ever will have?

Well, in order to fully understand this, you have to have come to the point or currently be at the point where you understand that you have a great need for provision.  You might feel as if you can live your life on your own and provide all you need physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  If you do, then you will never understand what I am talking about or what the Bible is teaching through Abraham and Isaac this morning.

You have to be at the point in your life where you realize that your great need and greatest hope is at risk of perishing if it’s up to you and your hands! 

Therefore, you have to understand what God provides for you in a clear way.  And the good news is we see it very clearly in the famous story of Genesis 22.

·         Second, notice that Abraham is thrust in an intense conflict to end the life of his only son.

Notice the references to the fact that Isaac is “his son” or “only son.” (vv.2,3,6,7,8,9,10,12,13) 

I believe there is an intentional emphasis on the fact that this is the son or the prima genitor of Abraham and Sarah.  In ancient culture and especially the Jewish ancient culture, there was a strong focus on family success NOT individual success.  This played into the fact that the first born received all the inheritance, especially the land.  Land was a status symbol in the community and the 1^st born would decide how the inheritance would be divided.  In sum, the firstborn was the hope of the family!

God uses this understanding prima genitor to teach His people an incredible spiritual lesson.  Remember, we read in the Old Testament that God often expects that the first fruit be given to Him.  The first fruit of the crops, the first fruit of the livestock, and remember in the story of the Passover, God says the firstborn is His.

Abraham’s conflict involves two spheres which interconnect very closely.  One, Abraham realizes that God has asked him to end the life of the one who was the hope of his family.  Two, Abraham also has been given a covenant promise from God that He is going to bless an entire people or nation through Isaac.  Not only is his family’s future at stake but the future of a blessed people of God.

So, Abraham is at a crux.  God is calling in Abraham’s debt.  Life and death is in the balance.  Does God want his people to live or die?  If God is going to bring a blessing through Isaac, how will He do it through a dead body?

Do you see Abraham’s conflict?  I would argue that every one of us must come to the point in our life when we understand and feel this conflict as our very own.

The promise of God is that He loves us and desires deep fellowship with us.  The truth of our lives is that we are sinful and our hearts are deceptive.  Therefore, the problem is that God is a holy and just God, so how can a holy God exercise His justice and still be in union with those that are sinful.

How is God going to provide for us?  How is God going to resolve this conflict?  Do God want us dead or does God want us alive?

The answer for us is the same answer for Abraham and Isaac in verse 13.  God provided a ram that happened to be caught by his horns in the thicket “instead of his son.”

Isaac is a type of all lost and condemned man, for who a substitute ram, typical of Christ, was sacrificed.

I have been using the Jesus Storybook Bible to teach my kid’s better the storyline of Jesus in the Bible.  Here is what the last page reads to wrap up the story of Abraham and Isaac.

·         God helped Abraham and Isaac understand that He wanted his people to live, not die.  God wanted to rescue His people, not punish them.  God was getting ready to give the whole world a wonderful present. It would be God’s way to tell his people, “I love you.”  Many years later, another Son would climb another hill, carrying wood on his back.  Like Isaac, he would trust his Father and do what his Father asked.  He wouldn’t struggle or run away.  Who was he?  God’s Son, his only Son- the Son he loved.  The Lamb of God.

How does this apply to us this morning? 

I was drawn to this NT passage that I want us to think about as we close this morning.

Romans 8:32, 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Have you fallen captive to the lie that God is withholding something from you? 

Maybe you have come in this morning and you feel unsatisfied by life or maybe your job or maybe your marriage or another relationship?

Maybe YOU are trying to fill the hole in your heart that you have, instead of letting God?

Some of you might just need a great rescue in your life.  You are struggling with a temptation, you are struggling with a “next step” in life, the strength to forgive someone for hurting you, or a struggling marriage.

Will you commit this morning to God’s Great Rescue Plan?