Giving
Welcome to Refinery Life Australia.
The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
As we head into Christmas we are starting a new series titles, Come let us adore Him.
Today we are talking about Reflections of Jesus in Genesis.
Prayer
Gad, we search for Your blessings, let us see You in all areas of our lives.
May our eyes be opened to Your presence.
May we not only seek Your here in this time of worship, but let us see Jesus in our homes and in our community.
Thank You, Father, for revealing Jesus on all the pages of the Bible.
In Jesus name we pray.
Amen.
Text
Genesis 22:14 NKJV
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; (Jehovah Jireh) as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Scripture Reading
Genesis 22:8-14 NKJV
8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood.
10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.
11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!”
So he said, “Here I am.”
12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram, and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.
14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Introduction
I have been preaching the Word of God to this church from day one.
Some of the congregation may have been listening but not necessarily hearing what I have been saying.
I have been preaching what you need to hear, so let me encourage you to fully commit your life to Jesus, and hear what He is saying.
People can read the Bible and fail to see Jesus.
They go to church and do not come face to face with Him.
Often people are in the environment of Christian experience, but they do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
They know about Him, but they do not know Him personally.
In reading Genesis we can see Jesus on almost every page.
The problem with the Jews in the first century was that they could not identify the Messiah because they had not really seen Him in their Bible.
In working through Genesis, we see Jesus in many experiences.
Genesis does not speak of Jesus’ birth, but it does demonstrate His existence.
Two experiences in the life of Isaac illustrate God’s plan in Jesus.
They show us that God has always had a plan to seek and save the lost.
- A sacrificing Saviour.
- Promise.
Isaac was the son of promise.
God had made a covenant with Abraham, telling him that all nations of the earth would be blessed through his descendants, but Abraham did not have any descendants.
Abraham took this matter into his own hands.
Since he did not see any way the promise could be fulfilled, he decided that he would help God work it out.
Abraham had a son by the handmaiden Hagar, but he was not the son of promise.
Then God spoke when Abraham was ninety nine years old and Sarah was ninety.
God said “I am going to give you a son.”
Miraculously, He did.
Isaac was born.
Later God said, “Abraham, you must be willing to sacrifice your son.”
So Abraham took Isaac to Mount Moriah.
Isaac, carrying a load of wood for a burnt offering on the alter, said, “Father, where is the lamb?”
Abraham answered, “God will provide.”
B. The weight of sin.
Isaac carried the load of the sacrifice.
All humankind is under the weight of sin.
If we read this passage in light of out social tends, we might judge God to be unjust in asking Abraham to sacrifice his som.
But if we look at it from God’s perspective, it is quite different.
Isaac deserved to die, just as we all do.
He was a sinner, and so are we, and the wages of sin is death.
Isaac, on his way to his own sacrifice, is symbolic of the needs of humankind.
He was under the load of sin, a sinner with questions and no answers, a sinner with sin and no forgiveness, a person with no hope even though the promise of God rested on his whole life.
C. God’s provision.
Abraham and Isaac went to the place God had designated, and Abraham built an alter.
He tied his son and was ready to sacrifice him when God spoke.
We see Isaac as a symbol of sinful humankind under the load of sin and without hope.
But then God spoke and we do not see Isaac.
We see the provision of God.
God supplied a ram with its horns caught in a bush, put there as a sacrifice in place of Isaac.
God was ready to to take the load of sin off the shoulders and out of the heart of Isaac.
The ram was sacrificed in Isaac’s place.
Abraham’s faith was demonstrated by his willingness to sacrifice his son, but the important thing is that a sufficient substitute had appeared by the grace of God.
This story reminds us of Jesus.
We are carrying the burden of our guilt, not supposed guilt, not assumed guilt, but real guilt.
We deserve the penalty of hell, but by grace God has sent a Lamb.
That Lamb is Jesus, humbly born in a manger in Bethlehem, sadly yet victoriously living among His own people who rejected Him, and terribly yet gloriously dying on Calvary’s cross for our sins.
D. The victory.
Picture Abraham and Isaac coming down from Mount Moriah.
Isaac not carrying the load of sacrifice.
The sacrifice has been made .
Isaac no longer asking, “Where is the lamb?”
The Lamb has been provided.
Isaac has been saved.
The Christ has come.
The price has been paid on the cross at Calvary, and the resurrection has provided salvation for everyone who will accept it.
We are free from the guilt of sin because the Lamb of God has provided.
2. We have a seeking Saviour.
Another story about Isaac reminds us about our seeking Saviour.
Abraham had left his relatives in Haran and gone to Canaan.
Isaac needed a wife.
The Canaanite women were not right for Isaac because their people worshipped idols.
Isaac as the son of promise, would be an ancestor of Jesus.
So the right wife had to be found for him.
- The searching Spirit.
Abraham sent his servant Eliezer back to Harass to find a bride for Isaac.
Eliezer went to the home of Laban, the kinsman of Abraham and Sarah, where he obtained permission to take Rebekah to be Isaac’s wife.
Rebekah’s mother did not want her daughter to leave, but finally the moment came when Rebekah was asked if she would go to be the bride of Isaac and she said she would go.
B. The joyous Christ.
A glorious meeting took place between Rebekah and Isaac.
Genesis 24:63-64 NKJV
63 And Isaac went out to meditate in the field in the evening; and he lifted his eyes and looked, and there, the camels were coming.
64 Then Rebekah lifted her eyes, and when she saw Isaac she dismounted from her camel;
Why would God put a love story like this in the Bible?
Because God is telling us about Jesus.
He is telling us about the son of promise, Isaac, in search of a bride.
Jesus also came to search for a bride.
Jesus is the Son of God, and His bride is the church.
As Abraham sent out Eliezer, God sends out the Holy Spirit in search of the bride of Christ.
What did Eliezer do? He went to Haran and told Rebekah about Isaac.
The Christ has come, and the Holy Spirit moves around the world to tell people bout Christ.
He gathers the church, the bride of Christ.
God has always had a plan, and the plan is Jesus.
If you leave out Jesus, you have left out everything.
Jesus is the essence of God’s grace.
Jesus is the Saviour who not only saved Isaac from death but also from guilt and from hell.
And He saves us from death, guilt, and hell too.
C. The willing bride.
Jesus is the one who sends forth His Holy Spirit in search of Hod bride.
What a beautiful truth that is!
Not only has God provided salvation, but He searches the earth for the souls of men and women who will give themselves to Him and who will say as Rebekah did, “I will go.”
Conclusion.
The story of Jesus is an eternal story.
It did not begin in a manger in Bethlehem, it began in the very being of God.
It is a story that has been included in the purpose of God ever since He said, “Let there be light.”
It is a story that is ever expanding as God touches the lives of all people who will submit to Him.
The Christmas story is not written in the decorations we put up around our homes.
It is not written as we exchange gifts.
The Christmas story is written in our acceptance of Jesus as the saviour and Lord of our lives.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
Giving
I really want to encourage you to be diligent with your Bible study time, because God has so much more for us than we can get from just going to church once or twice a week and hearing someone else talk about the Word.
When you spend time with God, your life will change in amazing ways, because God is a Redeemer.
Theres nothing thats too hard for Him, and He can make you whole, spirit, soul and body!
You’re important to God, and you’re important to us at www.refinerylife.org
When it comes to prayer, we believe that God wants to meet your needs and reveal His promises to you.
So whatever you’re concerned about and need prayer for we want to be here for you! Or even if you just want to say Hi, you can contact us
2021 IS A YEAR OF REFORMATION
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