Genesis 22:13

0:00 Good evening. I really like this time of the year, partly because it's the beginning of baseball season. Thank you, thank you. I grew up playing baseball, although I can't do much of that anymore. I still try to relive the glory days through coaching my son's baseball team and also playing on the 3ABC softball team. And might I add that it was just last fall that the 3rd Avenue softball team won the one-pitch tournament.

0:38 So we were the champions last fall. But there was one game during the playoffs where a ball was hit to me in the outfield. And I thought I got an excellent read of the ball off of the bat, but it was one of those plays where I had enough time in my mind to think about, well, I'm going to have to probably make my body do things it hasn't done in a while. So I took off running after the ball, and I figured that I was either going to have to make the decision to dive for it head first, or I was going to have to slide feet first.

1:20 So I think I made the right decision, and I decided to slide feet first. I thought that this was the right decision at the time. And as I started to extend my arms out for the ball, I realized that this ball is coming in at a weird angle to me. And the ball ended up hitting me right in the index finger and bouncing off. So I did not make the play. my finger it immediately swelled up and I tried to finish the game but but we had a few subs on the bench so it was good that I was able to have someone come in for me and it my finger turned all kinds of colors so it took it took quite a while for my finger to eventually for the swelling to go down and for it to finally turn back the the normal color that it's supposed to be It took months, really, for this swelling to go down.

2:18 But it was one of those injuries where I was left asking the question, when is relief going to come? Our text for this evening is Genesis 22, 13, and it can be found on the front of your bulletin. It reads, And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

2:53 Our verse for this evening is situated right in the middle of the historical account of God telling Abraham to sacrifice his own son, Isaac. It was back in Genesis 16 when God told Abraham that he was going to make a covenant with him. And you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. God told Abraham that he was going to be exceedingly fruitful and that kings were going to come from his line. This was an everlasting covenant.

3:26 Shortly after, the promise continued through the birth of Isaac. Sarah, Abraham's wife, was older in age, and she was promised a son. Then we come to Genesis 22. God tested Abraham, telling him, 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 the mountains of which I shall tell you. Abraham proceeded with that plan.

4:00 As we approach our verse for this evening, Genesis 22, 13, we notice a startling halt to that plan. As Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife, an angel of the Lord called from heaven to stop Abraham, saying, 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.

4:31 Then our verse for this evening. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. Abraham was acting in obedience. But it seems in the moments before all of this that hope was lost. Then Abraham's eyes were lifted.

5:04 He looked up and he saw a ram. Relief set in. Hope was restored. So the point I want to draw out of Genesis 22, 13 is this. It's our God is the God of relief. Our God is the God of relief. And I want to focus on two points about God's provision of relief. The first one being, God's relief is always good and sufficient for the Christian.

5:35 So the first one, God's relief is always good and sufficient for the Christian. The second one, God's ultimate provision of relief is found in Christ. So our first point, God's relief is always good and sufficient for the Christian. It was Charles Spurgeon that noted that even among the greatest of saints, in toiling towards heaven, that we often grow faint. There are many reasons for our weariness.

6:08 We experience the physical, mental, and spiritual demands of life while we are on our Christian journey. We even fool ourselves into thinking that we should be this superhero Christian that can withstand it all, when in reality we are not superheroes. But we're all regular saints who grow faint at the circumstances of life that pass us by. Our bodies are designed to age, and they will eventually fail us.

6:43 Our minds are also designed to age and they will also fail us. You may find yourself in a position where you're at your work and you see that more and more people are leaning on you. Responsibilities are piling up and between work relationships and family, you feel mentally exhausted. You may be a mom who's trying to juggle a job or multiple jobs, school with your kids, parenting, and everything else that comes in a marriage.

7:20 I know we have many students who are taking classes, working, and balancing relationships with friends that seem to get complex at the most undesirable times. Paul even spoke about the ways that he was growing faint. In 2 Corinthians 11, 24 through 28, he details his wariness. He was whipped, beaten with rods, stoned, and shipwrecked, left adrift at sea. He spoke about the dangers from rivers, robbers, an array of other people and circumstances.

7:55 He describes the physical pain that he experienced like this. He says, in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. Paul even mentioned his mental pain. He says this, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. You may find yourself like Paul with a daily pressure of anxiety on you.

8:29 You may be experiencing depression or thoughts you don't know how to get out of your head. You may find yourself waking up at 3 or 4 in the morning and you can't just go back to sleep. And this is how it's been for the past six months. You may have a keen awareness of your own weariness and faint heart on your own journey to heaven. You may be asking yourself the question, where is the relief?

9:02 Or when will the relief come? I want to encourage you this evening that our God is the God of relief. His relief is always good and sufficient. God will always provide for his people. When you profess faith in Christ and claim that you are his, then there's this supernatural grip. That God has on you. If you can, please turn to Psalm 121.

9:34 I want to read Psalm 121 to you. It's eight verses. Eight wonderful verses. Psalm 121. I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord. Who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved. He who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

10:09 The Lord is your keeper. The Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil. He will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore. Where does your help come from? Is it from the one who does not slumber or sleep? The Lord is your keeper.

10:43 The Lord is your shade on your right hand. Our tendency is to ignore the good providence of our God. I want to encourage you this evening to be acutely aware of the good keeping that our God does. The Lord sustains our physical and mental well-being. He keeps our hearts beating and our lungs filled with air until he determines the right time for those organs to stop.

11:15 He provides friendships and timely encouragement in ways that are beyond us. For some, he's giving you a special friendship or a spouse that brings joy and comfort. He is the shade on our right hand, even when we don't notice. It's a device of the enemy to make you think that you're not getting the good from God that you deserve. Or to think that you should have more.

11:48 That your current relief you are experiencing is not enough. This usually starts small, a tiny thought. If I had more friends, I wouldn't feel the pain of loneliness. If I had a happy marriage, I wouldn't get so upset with my kids. Our expectations of the goodness of God and the relief that we expect may not always align with our circumstances. Small, unmet expectations grow into larger, unmet expectations.

12:25 We harbor bitterness. We allow for patterns of sin to develop. We doubt God's good provision for our lives. We find ourselves desiring for things that will only bring us temporary, unlasting relief. We desire for the things that are seen rather than the things that are unseen. where does your help come from lift your eyes toward the Lord the Lord is your keeper the Lord is the shade on your right hand we're not promised an everlasting comfort on this earth but in God's good provision of relief to us he has provided ways we can experience relief here on this earth God has given us the church the bride of Christ as good relief for Christians he has instructed us to embrace the natural rhythms

13:25 of attending the feast every week where we gather together, sing praises to him, we use our voices to encourage one another in singing we pray together we sit under the preaching of the word this is the feast if you're a christian you need this meal each and every week the weekly gathering of the church is one of the most foundational goodnesses of grace we are given as christians he's also given us the power of personal ministry where we're able to comfort one another through personal discipleship relationships and he's given us his spirit. He says, I will put my spirit within you and you will come to life. That was the promise of the spirit. The spirit makes us come to life and the spirit helps direct us in the truth. John 14, 16 says, he will give you another helper to be with you forever.

14:27 You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. The helper abides in us. This is the good and sufficient relief that God provides to the Christian. In toiling to heaven, we grow faint, but we are to remember we're born again to a living hope, an inheritance that is imperishable, So point number two, God's ultimate provision of relief is found in Christ.

15:11 Genesis 22, the story of Abraham and Isaac should ultimately point your mind to Christ. God told Abraham, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and offer him as a sacrifice. Abraham was told to be a father of a multitude of nations. Isaac was the promised son of Sarah and Abraham. God said that he will establish his covenant with Isaac. Abraham was now faced with taking his only son, his beloved son, and offering him as a sacrifice.

15:49 we don't have the privilege to know all the feelings and emotions that Abraham experienced in that moment, but I think it's all right for us to reflect on how we would feel. The thought is terrifying to us. It may bring fear and it might not settle well with you. Offer him as a burnt offering? Must it be a sacrifice? I imagine these were the questions that raced through Abraham's mind.

16:26 Did he tell Sarah that he was going to do this? We don't know. We do have the account by God's grace in Hebrews 11 that does give us some insight into the thoughts of Abraham. Hebrews 11, 19 says, He, Abraham, considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead. Abraham trusted God so much that he thought that Isaac would be raised from the dead. So Abraham rose early in the morning.

17:01 I suspect his interaction with God about the tellings of this event must have happened the previous night, maybe during the day before. We don't know for sure, but we do see a progression of a third day in verse 4. And on day two, he woke up and saddled his donkey. And he took two of his young men with him, along with his son Isaac. He gathered some wood for the altar that he would have to build.

17:33 And I wonder what Abraham was thinking as he packed those bags on the donkey and proceeded to cut wood for the altar. On the third day, he arrived at his destination. he told the two servants to wait with the donkey while Abraham and Isaac would go to the place. He said, stay here while I and the boy, his son, will go over there and worship. Abraham then took the wood and stacked it in the arms of his son.

18:10 His son carried the wood for the altar. John 19, 17, in reference to Christ. So they took Jesus and he went out, bearing his own cross to the place called the place of Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. Isaac then asked his father a question. He said, we have the fire and the wood for the sacrifice, but where is the lamb?

18:46 Where is the lamb? Isaac's question may be the central question that every human in this world is asking. Whether you're conscious of it or not, you do want to know, where is the lamb? We all want to know. When will the relief come? What does it take to satisfy? What went through Abraham's mind after asking the question?

19:23 We don't know, but we do know Abraham's response. Abraham responded to his son. He said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. I imagine there was great emotion running through Abraham's body when he told his son this. Was his mind racing? I wonder what went through Isaac's mind when he heard this. We don't have the privilege to know that either, but we know the evidence of Isaac's trust and obedience to his father.

20:02 As we read it, Isaac hears his father's response, and there's no account of a struggle. He didn't run away, but he willfully submits, as did Christ. When asked as Christians, where is the lamb? This question should jolt our minds back to the most central and joyous thoughts about our God. Where is the lamb? Abraham responded that God will provide himself a lamb.

20:35 Abraham didn't know that an animal would be provided at this point. But we see God's hand on this plan through Abraham's obedience. Abraham and Isaac made it to the place where God told Abraham to go. Abraham built the altar. He tied Isaac to the altar and he grabbed the knife. Abraham was then stopped by an angel of the Lord. Do not lay a hand on Isaac, the promised seed of Abraham.

21:09 What happens next? Relief. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. It was God who provided the sacrifice. Where is the lamb? God provided the lamb. And God has provided us with the lamb.

21:40 Psalm 49, 7 through 9 says, Truly no man can ransom another or give to God the price of his life for the ransom of their life is costly and can never suffice. God provides us relief in his only beloved son. God provides us relief in the one who carried his own cross. God provides us relief in the one who went to the garden and prayed, Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me, yet not what I will, but what you will. God provides us relief in the one who is perfect in obedience, who never looked to the right or the left. Jesus Christ is your relief. Let's pray.

22:37 Lord, we come to you this evening and we pray for relief. Some of us desire relief from physical pain and mental pain. Some of us have experienced sickness. We pray for relief. Some of us desire relief from relational conflict with friends or even in marriages. We pray that you will help us when we ask, where is the lamb?

23:09 Forgive us when we're weak in these moments. Help us see the good graces of relief that you have provided for us on this earth. Help us be present with others when they are suffering. May your spirit be upon us. When we're faint in our toil towards heaven, help us place our hope in Jesus Christ, the lamb that you have provided. who gives us eternal relief. We pray all these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.