Abraham Rejoiced - John 8:56

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. John chapter 8 from verse 31. So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, if you abide in my word, you're truly my disciples and you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free.

They answered him, we are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say you will become free? Jesus answered them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever. The son remains forever.

So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are offspring of Abraham and yet you seek to kill me because my word finds no place in you. I speak of what I have seen with my father and you do what you have heard from your father. They answered him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did.

But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I've heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. You are doing the works your father did. They said to him, we were not born of sexual immorality. We have one father, even God.

Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me for I came from God and I am here. I came out of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are not of your father.

You are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe me. Which one of you convicts me of sin?

If I tell the truth, why do you not believe me? Whoever is of God, he's the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God. The Jews answered him, are we not right in saying that you are a Samaritan and have a demon? Jesus answered, I do not have a demon, but I honor my father and you dishonor me, yet I do not seek my own glory.

There is one who seeks it and he is the judge. Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. Jews said to him, now we know that you have a demon. Abraham died, as did the prophets. You say, if anyone keeps my word, he will never taste death.

Are you greater than our father, Abraham, who died? And the prophets who died, who do you make yourself out to be? Jesus answered, by glorifying myself, my glory is nothing. It is my father who glorifies me. and whom you say he is our God, but you have not known him, I know him.

If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and I keep his word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He sought it and was glad. So the Jew said to him, you are not yet 50 years old, "'And have you seen Abraham?' Jesus said to them, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.'

"'So they picked up stones to throw at him, "'but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.'" Amen, this is the word of the Lord. Our Lord said heaven and earth will pass away. not pass away. Let's come before our Lord and seek his blessing on tonight's Word.

Lord, we come before you now reverentially, come before you humbly knowing, oh well, that we are needed people. We are in need of your presence among us. of your grace, of your goodness, of your mercy. And so we appeal to you this evening, and we ask, as we have our Bibles open in our laps, we know and have come to trust this is your word. It is eternal.

It is true. And so, Lord, we ask now that you would take your word and place only that what is spoken is true and corresponds to the truth in your word. Meet with us, Lord, by your Holy Spirit and show us Christ. We ask these things in your name. What a Christ-exalting passage that we have before us.

You've heard us say that multiple times, but this before us, verse 56, is indeed a Christ-exalting passage. You've heard from this pulpit on a number of occasions us say the words of the servant, even argue scripturally that everywhere or anywhere we go in God's word, we will we will always find that it points us to Jesus. Whether it's the Old Testament or it's the New Testament, whether it's the narratives or the writings or the prophets or the epistles or the gospels, it matters not where you are. The God who speaks has been pleased to provide for us His Holy Word. And in His Holy Word, no matter where we are, we will find the goal and the purpose, the person and the work of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He is everywhere in Scripture. It is all about Jesus. We've all heard the expression that all roads lead to Rome, haven't we? Some anxious looks on your face, maybe. Don't worry.

I know that expression has been used as an idiom to express or propagate some very erroneous and very blasphemous doctrines. I don't intend to go there this evening. But in its original context, that expression was right on the mark. In its original context, it speaks of when the Roman Empire was being built. the architects had one concern to construct a network of roads, some 30 main stone paved roads or highways, you might say, that would link, go from Rome and go and link all the some 113 provinces in the Roman Empire.

The concern was that no matter where you lived across the empire, whether you were south or east or north or wherever you were, that without to one of these main roads and head straight, and you end up in Rome. That was the goal. That no matter where the citizens were, they were always able, with that reasonable amount of effort, to come and make their way to Rome. Rome was the goal. Rome was the goal, beloved.

No matter where you are in this book, the triune God who has given us his eternal word, this sacred writ that is before us, no matter where you find yourself, if you have a proper hermeneutic, that is, if you have a proper principle of interpretation, one that our Lord Jesus Christ himself gave in Luke chapter 24, then if you have a proper hermeneutic, no matter where you are, you will find yourself looking at an element. Because Christ is the goal. Christ is the purpose. Christ is the very center of this world, just like every road was meant to lead to Rome. Anywhere you are in Holy Scripture, you should find yourself staring at the Savior of the world.

Nothing new here. We've heard it over and over again. These words are ringing common in your ears. I know, I've spoken them before. So has my brother.

But I want us to think this evening of a different angle. Maybe one that we haven't spent too much time meditating upon, but I believe the Lord makes very clear for us here in verse 56 in John chapter 8. Because not only does the heart of the text anywhere in the 66 books of the Bible ultimately lead us to Christ, but so too should the heart of God's people. God's people ought to be rooted in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's one thing to be aware that what is written is leading us to Jesus.

It all anticipates eagerly the coming Messiah. But a genuine study of God's people in all generations ought to reveal that if you could map the heart of a true man or woman of God, then you will see that the trajectory of their soul is one that leads them to Jesus Christ. That their hope, their security, their comfort, their rest is ultimately placed in none other than Christ. because although the Old Testament saints may not have understood in the fullness who this Messiah was or the details surrounding his advent, they may not have understood all the details around it. Nonetheless, we know according to sacred Scripture that they were anticipating the coming of the Messiah.

That was the goal of their hearts. to see the Messiah come because they knew that their salvation was contingent upon the coming of this Messiah. And in that, they rejoiced. Verse 56, your father Abraham rejoiced that you would see my day. He saw it and was glad.

The word is a roadmap. This Bible is a roadmap that always leads us to Jesus Christ. And it is true that Abraham, in the passage that is before us, who is in the Bible a pattern of faith, faithfulness, what Abraham believed on his account as human righteousness. We see that if we could map the heart of that is always focused and pointed towards Christ. It's been a while since we've been in John chapter eight, six weeks in fact, but it's been a glorious blessing that our brothers had an opportunity to share his burden, the burden the Lord placed on his heart, to share with us how it is that we can grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ from second Peter.

It's been a blessing. He's not over yet. I think he's got two more sermons. I look forward to them, but we'll have to wait a couple weeks until we hear because we've been in this chapter a while, since November last year, in fact. So I'm hoping at least the major aspects and context of this chapter is still at the forefront of our mind to some degree at least.

After all, as I said, we've been here a long time. Now, the Lord is speaking in what setting? Where is our Lord speaking? In the temple. In the temple in Jerusalem.

That's where this is all taking place. And we can assume that there is a large crowd that is before our Lord. Not only because every time our Lord opened His mouth, He attracted a whole heap of people wherever He went. because of course he had supernatural power and they were very attracted to the miracles. We've already seen that.

But every time you open his mouth, he had a brilliance in teaching. He taught like no one else that they had ever seen, unlike the scribes and the Pharisees. He spoke with such authority and beautiful words and truth and grace. So he did attract the crowds, but there's another reason why there would be a lot of people before our Lord, and that is because of time that this was taking place. You would remember, it was one of the three major feasts.

You remember which one? It was the Feast of Booths. And we remember, as we're told in the Old Testament in Leviticus 23, and other passages, that the Feast of Booths was a seven-day feast. seven days. Most of the activities will take place over seven days, and most of the activities will be taking place in the temple.

Now, this day is the eighth day, and like the first day of the feast, the eighth day is a day of holy convocation, a day of holy assembly, where the people of God will assemble one with another, and it was a Sabbath day. What does that mean? Well, we know what a Sabbath is. It's a day of rest. In this day in the first century, we know that the religious leaders had all sorts of Sabbath restrictions.

We've heard it said before, a Sabbath day journey. In fact, it's in the word. And so according to the religious leaders of the day, a Sabbath day journey was about as far as you can travel on a Sabbath day. And that meant that those who had come to be at the feast would travel many days, some of them even weeks, It would be illogical to think that they would begin their journey on a Sabbath, a Sabbath day journey. For example, if they were heading towards east, they could only get as far as the Mount of Olives, 10, 15 minutes max.

So it's likely that they were all standing before our Lord in a large number. We're talking possibly in the thousands, maybe even the tens of thousands, because Jerusalem would swell at these times. And I would stand before the Lord and listen with their intensive ears, the engagement, the to and fro with this rabbi and the people who, in the beginning of the text at least, were people who professed to have believed in him. You remember that. That's the audience, the people who were so said in verse 30 and 31 to have believed in him.

But we worked our way through this chapter. As we worked our way through the discourse, we come to see that that faith that was manifested, that faith that may have been a profession from the mouth of these people, was not at all a genuine saving faith. We've come to know that genuine saving faith is a faith that is being given by God supernaturally, a faith that comes to apprehend the Lord Jesus Christ, a faith that comes to see self for where self is, the mess that self is in, the depravity of the heart, the absolute need for a savior to cleanse that self from their sins, a faith that endures, a faith that believes, These people, although professed a faith at one point in time, when the teaching of our Lord became a little difficult to hear, a little offensive, just like the Galileans back in chapter six, then they were all too happy to raise their back, dig their heels and begin to oppose our Lord. Why? Because what our Lord was saying had become offensive to their religious and national pride.

How dare you Jesus go there? How dare you say that we are slaves? We've never been slaves to anyone. How dare you say that we require you to set us free? We wouldn't have a bar of Jesus.

It's incredible because our Lord in his grace was exposing their hearts. It's a wonderful thing when the Lord shines Sometimes we know what's there, sometimes we don't. There's two responses. There's one that recognizes guilt and falls before a Savior who says, I am the light of the world. Come on.

Oh, come unto me. Look, follow after me. You won't remain in darkness, but you'll have the light of life. The very declaration that Jesus began with in John chapter eight. The one who promises to give them life, the one who promises to reveal truth, and the truth will set you free.

Recognize your sin and come to me. Oh, what grace. That's not what we see here. In their pride, these Jews become angry. And with their lying tongues, they go from a point of profession of faith somehow in our Lord.

And then they begin to speak and utter slanderous things against him. And we know all too well that whatever is spoken from the tongue is always Shows that Jesus was right all along. That Jesus' rebuke of these people and call that they would truly trust in him because at this point in time they weren't really saved. It shows that Jesus was right all along. Because essentially halfway through this chapter they begin to call Jesus names.

We know those names. They call him Samaritan and they call him demon possessed. Probably the two worst things you could say to a person in the first century. And so in the passage where all along these Jews that are before our Lord were priding themselves of their lineage, of their ethnicity, especially that we are sons of Abraham, Jesus really knocks the truth into their heart and says, no, you are not. You may look like Abraham, you may have his DNA, but spiritually speaking, in regards to spiritual matters, religious matters, you are worlds apart.

You're nothing like your father Abraham, nothing. Because in principle that the Lord was using was like father, like son. If your father was Abraham, you would do the things that Abraham did. But what you're doing now is not what Abraham did, it's what Jesus is saying. No, no, no.

With your mouth, you're slandering. Your father is the devil, Diablos, the slanderer. That's who your father is. but truth, but deception, hiding behind their ethnicity, thinking that they're okay. We're sons of Abraham, Jesus.

We're the recipients of the great promises. We heard our brother speak about them only earlier this evening. We're okay. Look where we are. This is the holy city, Jerusalem.

We're standing in the temple. The most sacred place on the planet. And God was pleased to give it to us, Jesus. We are okay, Jesus. God, Yahweh is our God.

We believe upon him. We're the chosen nation. From all the nations of the world, Yahweh chose us. We're okay. But in reality, they were in moral darkness and they could not even see it.

At this point in time, they were not okay. They were still under. Danger that they're in, in thinking that you can hide behind a religion or a system of beliefs. Hide behind ethnicity or a nation. Hiding behind whoever, like in today's context, behind your husband or your wife or your father or your mother or someone you know who's a believer in that is not.

Salvation is not wholesale, it's individual. Those who believe upon the name of the Lord. Those who believe that Christ His Messiah died upon the cross to cleanse the sins of sinners who are unworthy. Those who believe on an individual level, they're the ones who will say, you cannot stand behind a system, a system or religion, religion will not save. One day, when you stand before the Lord of the universe, on that judgment day, and every one of us will, these men will too.

who your father is, or who your mother is, or your lineages. He will be unimpressed. His eyes are piercing straight into the soul, and he will see every nook and cranny. You've been able to hide them from the closest people to yourself. But he sees all.

How gracious is our Lord. He's tried to wake them up before. We've seen this happen through the gospel. In fact, not on this trip to Jerusalem, but on the previous recorded trip for us in the fourth gospel, in the fifth chapter, actually, where Jesus tries to wake up these people, these Jews who had prided themselves and hid themselves even behind two major relationships, foundational characters in their history. They've been hiding themselves behind them, both.

One is Abraham, and we'll get to him in a moment, other years most. Moses. Two main characters that they'll hide behind. In fact, in the next chapter, chapter nine, you have the religious leaders of the day who go and confront the man who was born blind, yet was made well, made to see by the miraculous power, the divine power of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when they were questioning him in their antagonism, in their frustration, they're out of the woods.

We are the disciples of Moses. We don't know who you are. He's this Messiah's, you're Jesus's disciple, but we are the disciples of Moses. Will Moses save you? Will that be okay?

In fact, in chapter five, as I said, where Jesus really begins to wake these Jewish authorities, when they already denied and rejected the words of our Lord in that chapter, Listen to the words that Jesus utters to the religious leaders. He says, do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, How will you believe my words?

Oh, how offensive those words were to these men. Thinking they believed Moses. Thinking that because they recited his words, they even told them, they even compelled their peers to live by them, they even added to them to make sure they're not broken. Thinking that these things will make them okay and they can hide behind Moses and Jesus is saying, no, you cannot. Can't.

If you don't genuinely believe what Moses believed, you're in a great deal of trouble. This guy looks at the heart, not what is on the outside. And if he could see you, if Moses, as though Jesus is saying, if Moses could see you, and there's nothing in Scripture that would even suggest that he can, by the way. But if he could, he would stand here in disgust at what he sees. He will stand in disgust.

He'll be against you, is what Jesus is saying. You're nothing like Moses, and you're nothing like Abraham. You might look like him on the outside, but your hearts are antithetical one with the other. You see, Abraham is in our passage here in verse 56. Abraham is this wonderful character in the Old Testament.

But Abraham is a man that knew God intimately. You can't get very far through the book of Genesis without knowing. In fact, what is Abraham called? A friend of God. Abraham was a friend of God.

According to our Lord, these men before him here in the temple space, they did not know God. He accused them of that very thing. Only in the previous verse, verse 55, which was the last verse we considered together some six weeks ago, he says, you don't know God. I know God. If I say I don't know Him, I'll be a liar like you.

I know Him. You don't know him. Don't think for a moment that you're like Abraham. Abraham knew Yahweh, but you don't know Yahweh. As we've established that they're not like Moses, because they didn't share in the faith of Moses.

They're also not like Abraham because they did not share the faith of Abraham. You see, these Jews had failed to see that the true sons and daughters of Abraham are not simply those who are born in the bloodline. The true sons of Abraham are those who have And Jesus says to them in verse 39, listen to what he says. He says, if you were Abraham's children, you would be doing the works Abraham did. But now you seek to kill me.

The man who has told you the truth that I heard from God, this is not what Abraham did. This is not what Abraham did. I said earlier that one's actions, the manifestations of one's heart, the words that we speak are rooted in our hearts. We don't just say things and say, oh, I'm sorry, it's not really something that is known. Whatever comes out is rooted in here somewhere.

Jesus was ultra clear on this point. The Bible is ultra clear on this point. You remember back in Matthew chapter 15, verse 18, Jesus says, what comes out of the mouth proceeds from where? Comes from the heart. You see that Jesus appeals in verse 39 to the manifestations, to the works of Abraham, why do you think?

Because the disposition of Abraham's heart is not the disposition of the heart of the Jews that are before him. That's why Jesus doesn't need to appeal to the faith of Abraham. He says, Abraham's worth, the manifestation of his life as such, yours don't look like Abraham's. You know why? Because Abraham loves God, he knows and loves God, but you don't, you're still there.

And that's the truth. Your disposition, your heart's disposition is completely different to the man of faith that you are all trying to hide behind. How many times? How many times, brothers and sisters, can we be guilty of this? How many times can we read in books, read of the angels, the Puritans, and others, and just love the fact that they speak so eloquently, they love the Lord, love their practices, Hide behind this, but not be willing to live the lives they live.

Not be willing to truly believe what they believe. Not be willing to give up the creature comforts like they did. How often can we be tempted to hide behind the things that we know and not be prepared to sacrifice the creature comforts of this world? We want to be like Moses. We want to be like Abraham.

We'll recite his words. We don't want his laws. We don't want his heart. To have his heart means that we have to sacrifice the things that we really, really want. We're not prepared to go that far.

We're not prepared to go that far. Your father Abraham rejoiced, Jesus says, that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad. We'll open up those words in a moment, but in essence, What Jesus is saying is the fountain spring, the substance, the source of Abraham's joy has now become the bane of the existence of those who stand before him. The very cause of joy that brought joy and happiness and jubilation to Abraham's heart is now bringing great misery to the heart of his hearers.

How can you say Worlds apart, polar opposites. Beloved, in some way, for Abraham, the person and the work of Christ, was the absolute root of his joy. For these three Jews, Jesus, this Jesus who stands before them, was purely Israel. And you know what the natural man does? with that which brings forth misery, that which brings forth difficulty or hardship or angst or lack of happiness, well, the natural thing is to eliminate that thing.

And that's what we'll see in the next verse, is it not? And they pick up stones to do away with him. That's the natural inclination of the heart. Abraham embraced with faith and rejoiced. It's been a few moments looking at those words.

Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it. And he was glad. I'm not going to stand here and say that I know the intricate details of those words. There is a mystery in those words, a great mystery.

How and when did Abraham see the day of the Lord and rejoice? I can't point you to a single passage inscription and say, there you go, that's when it happened. I can't do that. But the Lord said that Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.

And that settles it as far as I'm concerned because our Lord is always true. But that question of how and when did that occur is always, has always been the cause of much speculation among scholars and theologians. I don't want to jump on that bandwagon. I'm not interested in speculation. I don't want to go there.

But there is much, beloved brothers and sisters and friends, there's much that we can observe to be able to paint some light as to why Jesus said these words and how they are indeed true. By looking at the life of this Abraham, by looking at the events that surrounded his life, by looking at the promises of God and the relationship he has with God, and how he dealt with the things that came his way. We can look at those things, and then we can paint the picture in our hearts and in our minds to shed some light over what Jesus is actually saying for us. Because in my view, it's more likely that Abraham foresaw this day by faith, not as a result of one occasion in his life, but from many. as he walked in faith and in obedience to the Lord his God, as he trusted, as his faith grew day upon day in his relationship with the Lord, and as he began to really embrace the promises and believe them and then act accordingly.

But before I do that, beloved, before we go to Abraham's life, we need to frame our minds. and remind ourselves of a very important detail before we can go on, and that is the fall of mankind in the garden. Because when man fell, you remember, I don't need to recollect that in the garden, when mankind fell in the sea, You remember when God was issuing the curses, and when he's speaking or cursing the serpent, he made a promise in that place, the promise of the upcoming Messiah, the promise that the seed of the woman, and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring, those words, offspring, seed, we need to recognize those when we go through the word. He shall bruise your head. That's a fatal wound.

But you shall bruise his heel. It's not a fatal wound. When man fell and he was separated from God, we know that God in the pronouncement of the curses gave hope. And that hope is that Satan, your days are numbered. Ancient serpent, your days are numbered.

But as for my people, there is a redeemer coming. And he will be the offspring or the seed of a woman, a son of Adam. God's salvation of humanity will come through a human being. We know the effects of sin. We know that death came into the world because of sin, both physical death and spiritual death.

And spiritual death, we said, is a separation from God. The beautiful creation that God created, including the crowning glory of his creation, mankind, and creating his own image with his own likeness, is now tainted and corrupted and defiled by sin. The love of that which God created and he looked back and saw was very good is now a mess. Because you see, mess. We don't have to read very far beyond chapter 3 of the book of Genesis to see how that mess actually manifests itself.

First brothers, the first brothers noted for And we see one murders the other because his heart was filled with jealousy, pain, murders, anger. Not long after we have, in chapter four, only a chapter away, we're given the first names of the few generations that have passed by. And we see how sin, this slippery slope of sin had corrupted and defiled everything around it. And then we're introduced to Seth, the son of Adam, the offspring, the seed of Adam. And then before the genealogy in chapter five that speaks to the coming of Noah, we're told these very interesting words, the last words in chapter four.

Listen to what he said. So Genesis chapter four. This is after Lamech. Remember the character Lamech? Cain killed his brother, murdered Abel and then after a few generations we have this character who comes out of nowhere but we know the genealogy and he comes up and Lamech is also a murderer of Jesus and they both sin.

How deep is sin? How dark is sin? What is the effect of sin? Before you know it, in a few words, we see that sin is corrupting, it's defiling, it's devastating. The world is not what God created it to be.

And then you have these words. It's last verse, chapter four. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. At that time, people began to call upon the name of the Lord. The effects of sin was so noticeable by all of the people.

They could see with their eyes the mess and the mess is getting worse and worse and worse. The depravity, the darkness, the fear, the wickedness is getting deeper and deeper and deeper. The flood will come and people were able to see this and the people of God were told at that time began to call upon the name of the Lord. What was their cry? What was their plea?

I ask you, what is the only promise, the universal promise given to humanity up until this point? Their call, beloved, was for that offspring to come. That seed promised back in Genesis chapter three. Oh Lord God, We call upon you, save us from the effects of sin. Bring forth that salvation that you have promised through the offspring.

God's people hold on to the promise of God and they call to God and they pray and they say, oh Lord, do that which you have promised. I align my heart to your plan and to your promises and by faith, you are the faithful God. We heard that this morning. Lord, bring forth what you have promised. Calling upon the name of the Lord, rescue us, send us Messiah.

I believe that's the plea of their heart. Now fast forward to chapter 11. Now we're introduced to the three sons of Terah, but major emphasis is on one of those sons, and you know where I'm going, Abraham. What's the meaning of that word, Abraham? What's the meaning of his name?

Great Father. His name will be changed by God to Abraham one day, the father of multitudes or the father of many, but Abraham, great father. So we're reading the narrative thus far. and with eyes intently looking for the promised seed of the offspring to come because he is the only hope for humanity. Things are getting worse and worse and worse.

The flood has come, and after the flood, mankind's heart is no better than what it was before the flood. And we're reading, and we're waiting, and we're waiting. Those people are waiting for the salvation of the Lord to come through Messiah. And then you come across this character whose name is Abram, whose name means great, great father. He must be the son of someone very important.

Offspring, seed, that should ring a bell. Before long, we can read that the hand of the Lord is on Abraham. Calls him out of that land of earth and the Chaldeans and he tells him to go to the place where he sent him that Abraham trusts. It's very, very clear. All the pieces are starting to come together, all of them.

Abraham is our guide. But here's the thing. In the same paragraph that we're introduced to Abraham for the first time, we're also introduced to his wife, Sarai. And the very first detail that inspired scripture tells us about his wife, Sarai, is this. In Genesis 11, verse 30.

Now, Sarai was barren. Now, just in case that those words are too archaic for us to remember, to know, the spirit of God is so incredibly gracious that he says, now, Sarai was barren, and then he explains to us, she had no child. That's what he means to be barren. She had no child. That's a big problem.

Do you get it? You've come with me thus far. Is that not a big problem, Abraham? Great father, how can you be? He's now approaching 75 years of age, and he has no children.

And it seems that he cannot have children. His wife is barren. That's a big problem. How is he going to be the father of a great nation, or the father of multitudes, if he can't have children? But I love that.

God never goes the easy route. Never. He never takes the easy route. Because here we have the beauty. If Abram is going to be with child, then God's hand must be upon it.

Then a miracle, the supernatural needs to take place. And beloved, when that does take place, if he had nothing to do with it because his hands are tied because of the barrenness of his wife, and thus five years old age where his body is good as dead, we're told in the book of Hebrews. Then what is the result? Praise and glory to the God of the universe. No boasting of man.

None. None. No boasting of man. Chapter 12, Abraham has received the promise. That exact one, exactly.

Because in chapter 12, we hear these words, 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. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors, I will curse. And in you, all the families of the earth shall be what? Blessed. Now, of course, Abraham received many blessings and made many promises.

Land, blessings, that from his loins would be kings and people who outnumbered the sand or the sea or the stars in the sky. All true, all took place. But alongside those blessings, there was something far, far more significant in chapter 12 before us. something incredibly significant that we must not overlook. And the Apostle Paul, by inspiration of the Spirit of God, he brings it into the new and says, look, look at the promise of God.

And he says, and those scriptures foreseeing that God will justify the Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham saying, in you shall all the nations be blessed. In you, all the families of the earth shall be blessed. Verse 12, chapter 12 of Genesis, and here in Galatians 3, in you shall all the nations, same word, same thing, same meaning, all the nations be blessed. The gospel. You hear that?

Paul says, and the scripture foreseeing that God will justify Gentiles by faith, preach the gospel beforehand to Abraham. Beloved brothers and sisters, what is the gospel? Simply good news. But it's not generally good news. This is the gospel.

You cannot have gospel without Messiah. You cannot have good news without the seed of the woman promised back in Genesis 3.15. Because it's not good news. It's on judgment until that Messiah comes.

Preached through the gospel. Abraham. believed that not only he will have offspring as numerous as the sand of the shit sea, but also God was making known to this man that the Messiah, the promised seed, that singular, promised, unique seed will come from his loins and he will be the blessing to all the nations of the world. Singular, Paul makes sure that we get that also, because he says that in Galatians 3.16.

I'm not going to go there, but I believe that most of you know the argument. Abraham is now made aware that Messiah will come from his own words, by way of a miracle, because his wife is barren. God's hand will supernaturally be on him, and she will conceive, give birth to Isaac, and from Isaac's line. the offspring will come. From chapter 12 in the book of Genesis on, the end of the Old Testament is one massive story about the family of Abraham and about how that seed will come, that unique offspring will come in human history and redeem God's people.

The thing is that these Jews before our Lord failed to see They failed to see that the true offspring of Abraham were not simply those, as I said earlier, who had the same blood and DNA, or who looked like Abraham, but rather those who had the face of Abraham. It was Galatians chapter three, the text that I quoted for you earlier. There's a couple of verses that I missed out, which begin that section. And this is what the apostle says from verse six. Just as Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness, know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

That's why the Jews in the temple were confused when Jesus said, you are not sons of Abraham. He goes to say now in verse 56, he does say, and sometimes he's speaking in the physical sense. So he acknowledges, of course, that these are sons of Abraham in the physical sense. But what really matters is, are you sons of Abraham, spiritually speaking? Do you have the same faith of Abraham?

Because that faith will manifest in the same type of work of Abraham. By faith, Abraham lived his life. How did he live his life? What do we know about Abraham? But by faith, we know, he left his house in Ur of the Chaldeans, and he just went and followed after God to wherever he was sending him.

Uncharted territory, he didn't know, he believed. By faith, he went to live in tents, portable homes in the land of Canaan, the very land that God said will be given to his prosperity, but not him. Now, he didn't own him the square foot of land. It would be given to generations after him, some over 400 years, because God said, your descendants will be enslaved for some 400 years. But by faith, he obeyed.

By faith, he believed the promise that although his body was as good as dead, that his wife was barren as well, that she would conceive and he would be a father of a great nation. And by faith, he believed that the Messiah would come from his loins and all the families of the earth would be blessed. When that would take place, he had no idea, but he believed. And now Jesus tells us here in chapter eight that the manifestation of Abraham's faith was what? Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it, was glad. His faith brought forth joy. Abraham's faith brought forth joy. though his eyes would not lay hold of the promises that God had promised. For him, a man who has come to trust in Yahweh, trust him, He knew that if Yahweh has spoken, then it is as good as done.

2,000 years far removed from this Messiah, from this promised offspring, the unique offspring that will come and save the world from her sins. But he delivered. And he rejoiced. That was his experience with the Lord. And his faith grew stronger and stronger as he walked with the Lord, as the Lord revealed more of himself.

And Abraham's knowledge of the Lord grew as Abraham experienced the faithfulness of God. That although Abraham, we know his story, was so unfaithful in so many instances in God's name. Faith. And as Abraham grew in his knowledge of God, his faith was strengthened in this guy. And he was able to know that this guy is faithful.

If he has promised, he will bring it to pass. And as his faith grew, it grew to the point where he was even willing to do what God had commanded him to do in Genesis chapter 24. Okay. Let's read from verse 1. Please take attention to this word.

It's God's word. It's inherent. It's invaluable. It's spoken from the heart of God to your hearts. I'm not going to explain it all.

I won't have time. But please, as you read, have a look and see how clearly Jesus is portrayed in these words. 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. Beloved, you know the temple was built on Mount Moriah.

We are told that in second Corinthians. Go and take him to Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So, Abraham rose early in the morning, settled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son, Isaac. He cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. And on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to the young men, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son. Isaac walks up the mountain with the plank of wood. And he took it in his hand, the fire and the knife.

So they went, both of them, together. And Isaac said to his father, my father. And he said, here I am, my son. Abraham said, behold, the fire and the wood. But where is the land for a burnt offering?

Abraham said, god will provide for himself in the land for a burnt 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. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. 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. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, by his horns. And Abraham went, 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 what? Provide.

As it is said to this day on the mount of the Lord, it shall be Beloved, this was not a rehearsal. This was the real deal. Abraham was willing to go through with the sacrifice. He had the wood, he had the fire, probably flint. He had his knife ready and he had one other thing necessary for the sacrifice and that was the sacrifice.

be his son. He went up that mountain, tied up his son, and he was willing to go through. He wasn't hanging his hand up there, I don't believe, for minutes looking at seeing whether this is going to be stopped. He was about to plunge it into his heart. Because Abraham knew that by faith he had come to trust in the promises of God.

By faith he had embraced the promise of God. God to him was so real. God to you was so real. Whatever you command, I will do, no matter how hurtful it is, because you are so real to me, and I know you'll keep your promise. What if Abraham, you plunged what his timing was wrong, and he plunged his timing to the heart of his son?

Abraham said, it doesn't matter, because God made a promise, you will bring my son back from the dead. Abraham. God said he would bring an offspring through this son, Isaac. And he would be the Messiah. He would be the offspring from the seed of the woman.

He would crush the head of the serpent. All the families of the world will be blessed through him. God made a promise to me. God will never break his promise. God's promises never fall to the ground.

I'm going to take that knife, and I'm going to obey, no matter what. The author of the book of Hebrews actually says it best. Hebrews chapter 11, he says, 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. Wow, like that knife comes down. What happens to the promise of God?

But then he continues. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead. From which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. Abraham was willing. Abraham was willing.

Thus was his faith in the Lord. Abraham knew, had tasted of the faithfulness of God. Abraham could assert that God never breaks his promise. Ever. And if God wants me to go all the way, and I will go all the way, because even though my mind doesn't understand deal.

He promised. My mind, my perception goes thus far. And the rest is in his hands. I'm going to trust. I'm going to trust.

Indeed. Indeed. Indeed. Son, God will provide. And God does provide.

Because that knife doesn't get thrust into the heart of Isaac but into the heart of that God had provided for him. Imagine the heart of the father, the relief of Abraham's heart, to know that God said, Abraham, don't you touch that boy. Imagine his heart, imagine that relief. But a sacrifice needed to be offered. It was an Isaac.

Now, did the Spirit of God reveal to Abraham somehow that this was all a type and picture of a reality to come, and that reality will come some 2,000 years later? We are not told. We have this picture before us, and we can guarantee this is true. Beyond that, we don't know. But Jesus does say, Abraham, your father, Abraham, rejoiced that he would see my day.

He saw it and was glad to love it. The day of Christ is no more clearly portrayed for us than in the narrative that is before us in Genesis chapter 22. Abraham knew. How? I can't tell you.

But I believe my Savior, when he says that Abraham saw the day and rejoiced, he saw it. As I said earlier, the rest of the Old Testament, we're almost done, is a story that follows the offspring of Abraham, both in the people of Israel, but also following that line, because from that line will come the Saviour of the world, the Messiah. Apart from our Lord, we know Abraham is the most important figure in the Bible. God. Of course.

This is great father Abraham and the Jews before our lord in the temple space in the earth. So you can imagine what's going on here. Imagine the offense that the Jews took when they heard Jesus say that Abraham your father Abraham foresaw my day and he rejoiced. He saw it and he was glad. Imagine the offense, if they've already uttered the words, Jesus, do you think that you're greater than Abraham?

You remember, they've already uttered those words some three verses earlier in verse 53, when Jesus was speaking about those who believe or keep his words will not taste or not experience death. And they say, Jesus, who do you think you are? Are you greater than Abraham? How are they feeling right now? I mean, that wasn't a serious question.

Jesus, please tell us. Please, we'd love to know, no, that was more of a rhetorical question, even a statement, a slur, and you think you're greater than the great, the great patriarch, that man, Abraham, that we all look towards. The great father of the promise, do you think you're greater than him? And Jesus will answer the question. He, in fact, answers it before he even gets to verse 58, where he says, before Abraham was, I am.

He's answered the question here in verse 56. How is it, beloved, how is it that Abraham would foresee the day of Christ and rejoice? Abraham was already promised that the promised seed, the Messiah, would come through his loins. It had been promised. Abraham would have been one of those people.

From that time, he began to call upon the name of the Lord. All God's people, true believers, true people of God, call upon the name of the Lord. And when you call and when you plead, what do you plead? Manufacture things from your own mind. You go and grasp the promises of God and say, Lord, this is what you promised.

Bring it to pass. Jeremiah says, looking, sorry, Daniel, opening the book of Jeremiah says, the 70 years of exile is almost up. And Jesus said, God, you said that after 70 years, you'll bring the exile back into Judah. And he says, Lord, do that which you have promised. But Daniel, God has promised, he's faithful.

Don't you know that? Why are you promising? Why are you praying for something that God has already promised to fulfill? Save your time. Pray about something else.

Know. I will grasp and apprehend the promises of God, and I will pray the promises of God. Because then I know I am praying the will of God. I'm aligning my heart to His heart. Why would I create within my own soul, my sinful soul, an objective or a trajectory of life, not knowing whether that's God's will or not?

That's like going to a fortune teller and saying, show me my future. No, we look to the word, we see what God has revealed, the promises he's given us, and we say, Lord, I apprehend, I believe, fulfill that which you have promised. Abraham was all of the day, and by faith he saw that day, and he rejoiced. You see, the rejoicing of Abraham was because he knew. He knew that that offspring, that unique offspring that God had promised that would be the blessings to all the nations of the world was greater than Abraham.

He knew that even His own salvation was contingent on that offspring. Remember, that was revealed back in Genesis 3.15. The only hope for humanity is the seed of the one who will crush the head of the ancient serpent. The only, the only, the only hope of humanity.

And if Abraham was promised that that hope is the offspring that will come through the line of Jacob, And Abraham knew that the security of his faith, his salvation is secure because his offspring will come and will accomplish the will of God. Doesn't mean Abraham was not saved. He was, but his salvation was contingent upon what the Messiah would do. And Abraham had the eyes, God says, Jesus says, in some way or another to see the day You ask, are you greater than Abraham? And Jesus is saying, in as many words, yes, I am.

Abraham longed to see my day. He saw it, and he rejoiced. They don't quite get it as yet, but they will in a few words' time, and I'll pick up stunts to kill Jesus. But I wanna say one thing. I wanna say that the Jews here, wouldn't have really had a big problem in the essence of what Jesus is saying.

I mean, that they knew that Abraham was a man of faith. They had the Old Testament scriptures, actually. They had the 39 books that we have. They weren't quite 39, because they had the 12 modern prophets were one and so forth. But they had books.

They had an opportunity to read and study. They knew this man of faith. They knew that what we have in Genesis 15, where we're told that Abraham believed in the context of the offspring to come. And it was considered or counted to him as righteousness. They knew that this Abraham was a man of faith.

And they had absolutely no problems in believing that Abraham believed the promises that God had given him, that from his loins would be not only a multitude of nations, I'm sorry, a great nation, Israel, but from his loins would be a single and offspring who would be the Messiah that would come into the world. They were anticipating one of their own, one of Abraham's offspring to be Messiah. They were waiting and they had absolutely no problems. Absolutely no problem believing that Abraham believed and lived his life accordingly. But do you know what they were offended with?

Do you know what caused them infinite offense? The ninth word of verse 56. Put your eyes down and see the ninth word. Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my infinite events to these people. It is okay for Jesus to say, your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see the Messianic kingdom come, the Messianic age to come, the Messiah to see, the offspring, that offspring that is of the offspring of the woman that crushed the head of the serpent.

We have no problems with that. But when Jesus stands and says, Abraham rejoiced that he would see That was offensive to their sensibilities. This Jesus, the son of a humble palpitant, a man who seemingly has absolutely no human status whatsoever, stands before the middle temple precinct, and he says, your father Abraham, that great man of faith, has the substance of his joy. but God is always one that fulfills his promises. Jesus was a stumbling block to the Jews, both here and in his crucifixion, which is the context that Paul uses.

Beloved, I began the sermon with the illustration of all the roads lead to Rome, pointing to the scripture, saying that anywhere we find ourselves in the world, but also suggested that the trajectory of the heart, the true person of God, the true disciple of God, the true people of faith ought to also, from all ages, just like Abraham, find their hope, their comfort, their rest, their security, to find its origin in Christ, its joy in Christ. As I said from the beginning, they called upon the name of the Lord by faith. They didn't know the details. They didn't know his name. They didn't know that he was born to Joseph and Mary.

They didn't know he had four brothers. They didn't know the details. But I'll tell you what they did know. They did know that God said he would provide. And his faith pushed him to take that to the very end, because he knew that God was absolutely faithful.

And God did provide. The Old Testament saints are saying the same way. You are fine. Their salvation is contingent upon Christ. And beloved, God did provide.

As John the Baptist declares on his mouth when he rises in. supernaturally providing the incarnation, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And it was Abraham's heart was completely relieved and filled with joy to know that his son was spared, but God the Father did not spare his son. How serious is sin? From the very beginning, the plan of God would cost him more than anything else.

His own son would be sacrificed. From the very beginning, how serious is our sin before a good and holy God? Beloved brothers and sisters, in closing let me ask you this simple question. Abraham's joy was rooted in Messiah. Where is your joy rooted this evening?

If we could map your heart, Will we find that the joy that you experience, the hope that you have, the security for the future, the comfort of your soul, the restfulness, will we find that they all come and unite in the person and in the work of the Lord Jesus Christ? Abraham had riches. You would be hard-pressed to find a single person Genesis fourteen. The kings. Plunder.

Five kings. All the plunder. Offered it to Abraham. I don't need it. All the riches I did not need.

Abraham had things. Abraham had cattle. Had servants. Abraham was rich as rich could be. But when he expressed the joy of his heart, Not the things of this world, not the riches of this world, but in the Messiah who was promised.

Messiah, beloved brothers and sisters, Abraham will come, for you and I, he has come. Abraham was looking forward, we look back. Have we come to apprehend Messiah, Jesus Christ? Have we come to believe upon him? Is our joy rooted in Christ, in Christ alone?