(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Number one, the Bible reads, and the first point we have is this, that Abraham was ready to serve God. Abraham was ready to serve God. It says in Genesis 22 verse 1, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. Now, in our modern day, when you think of like a temptation, you know, you think of being tempted to commit a sin or do something bad, like somebody has alcohol in front of you and they're tempting you, or someone of the opposite gender would be trying to tempt you to do something wrong. But tempt can also mean a test in the Bible. And so what God is doing is basically testing Abraham's faith. He's not trying to get Abraham to commit a sin. He's not trying to get Abraham drunk or anything like that, but he's testing how strong his faith actually is. And you know what? In life, you know, we are going to go through various trials as we try to serve God. And here, Abraham is given a big test by God. And right when God talks to him, Abraham says, Behold, here I am. So he's ready immediately at the voice of God. Verse 2, and he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac. Now, of course, he had his son Ishmael, but Ishmael was not a legitimate son. And of course, Ishmael and Hagar had left. And so he mentions Isaac here when he's saying your thine only son Isaac. I mean, Ishmael is still alive, but his only legitimate son is Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. So he says you're going to offer him on in the land of Moriah. Now you say, where is that referring to? Well, go to 2 Chronicles chapter 3. 2 Chronicles 3. This is actually a very debated chapter between, you know, Muslims and Christians, because the majority of Muslims believe that Abraham sacrificed his son Ishmael in Genesis chapter 22. They do not believe that he sacrificed Isaac. And so this is a very debated passage. And what Muslims will teach is that Moriah is basically right by Mecca in Saudi Arabia. But let us see what the Bible says about this. It says in 2 Chronicles 3 verse 1, Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. So we looked at the land of Moriah. We see here Mount Moriah. Okay, go back to Genesis 22. This is what it says about the Muslim's view on the land of Moriah here from Wikipedia. It says Muslims, on the other hand, believe the Moriah mentioned in the first chapter of the region named Marwa in Arabic in the Quran is actually located close to the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. So the Kaaba being that, you know, big black, you know, thing, stone that they worship and they make that pilgrimage to if you've ever seen that on YouTube. That's where they pray. They're always praying to Mecca in the direction of Mecca. It's a really important thing with Muslims. People that are OFW's, that are Muslims, they move to another country. First question as a Muslim, which direction do I pray to? Because they got to pray five times a day. They got to make sure they're praying in the right direction because they say, well, you know what, you got to pray toward Mecca. And they say that Moriah is actually in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. There has been a historical account of ram's horns preserved in the Kaaba until the year 683, which are believed to be the remains of the sacrifice of Ishmael. The first son of Abraham who most Muslims believe was the son Abraham tied down and almost sacrificed and not Isaac. Now, I find it strange that you find ram's horns and you immediately think these must be the ram horns from Genesis chapter 22. I mean, aren't there ram's horns everywhere in the world of rams that die? I mean, it's not like there's a million ram's horns in this. They're saying these specific ram horns are the ones from this sacrifice. I mean, I think it's a bit ludicrous because there's going to be remains and bones of rams all over the world. But they teach that Moriah is in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, and so they're trying to tie it together. They want it to be close to the Kaaba. So it's like, here's what we got. This must be it, right? And honestly, they're just trying to reject what the Bible says in the Old Testament. And what it shows is these religions, they will say they believe in the Old Testament. When you talk to Muslims, sometimes they'll tell you they believe in the Old Testament. Well, it doesn't sound like you believe in it because you're changing Isaac to Ishmael. You're saying these bones in this location, Moriah, this is in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. That's clearly not what the Bible teaches because it says at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah. Genesis 22 verse three, Genesis 22 verse three. And you know what makes it a matter of debate even amongst Islam is in the Quran, it doesn't tell you which son it is. So the majority of Muslims do believe it's Ishmael, but some Muslims believe it's Isaac. It's a matter of debate. It used to be almost a 50-50 split a long time ago. Now, pretty much every Muslim will say it's Ishmael. But Genesis 22 verse three, and Abraham rose up early in the morning. So once again, we're talking about being ready. And so basically, he's told in verse two, I want you to sacrifice your son, Isaac. Now, look, I often say that I'm an early riser, early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise. I go to bed early generally. I wake up very early, right? But if I was told you're gonna sacrifice your son, I'd probably just kind of sleep in the next day and just wake up at noon and do everything to avoid it. I wouldn't want to be very excited about this mission that I was given, but he rises up early in the morning, he's given instructions by God, and then he just starts his journey. And saddled his ass and took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son and claved the wood for the burnt offering. So it's not just that his son is gonna be put to death, what God is telling him, but it says, clave the wood for the burnt offering. Now, we understand this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, obviously in Genesis chapter 22, which, you know, by the way, this is a reason why the Muslims will try to completely overhaul and reject Genesis 22, because this is a great picture of the Lord Jesus Christ in Genesis 22. But it's not just that his son would die, but then he's gonna be a burnt offering. I mean, can you imagine the pain you'd go through, not just for your son to die, but then, you know, once there's a burnt offering, it kind of brings finality to the situation. Because Abraham has faith that his son is gonna be okay somehow. He believes in a resurrection, I don't think he has all these things tied together, but he believes it's gonna be okay. But, you know, if you're gonna have a burnt offering, that kind of ends the possibility, you know, of your son rising again or whatever, right? And so it's not just that he's gonna be put to death, they bring the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went on to the place of which God had told them. Then in the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. So on the third day, they're journeying, then from a long distance, he can see the location. Now, go to Jonah chapter one real quickly. See, sometimes in life, God might want you to do something that you're not gonna wanna do. And, you know, what you see from great men in the Bible is sometimes they're put to extreme tests in extreme situations, and it's an example to us today, right? You look at the story of Job, that's probably not gonna happen in any of our lives, something that severe or that serious. But a great man like Job, he goes through it, and it's an example to us. Same thing with Abraham here in Genesis chapter one. Abraham here in Genesis chapter 22. But, you know, sometimes you see great people in the Bible and they're given a mission by God, and they just choose not to do it. And look, Jonah was a great man of God. Obviously, you know, we've got the book of Jonah. He's mentioned in other parts of the Bible as being a great man of God. But unfortunately, he serves as a bad example, you know, to the world to come. Notice what it says in Jonah one, verse one. Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before me. But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa, and he found a ship going to Tarshish, so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it to go with him unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. Essentially, Jonah goes in the exact opposite direction that he's told to go, and he basically is given an assignment, doesn't want to do it, and he basically tries to run away from God. He tries to flee from God. And you know what? We could look at Jonah and kind of laugh at it and think it sounds ridiculous, but yet many times we read things in the Bible that God wants us to do, and we don't do it, right? Many times there's things that we know we should do, we just kind of avoid it. We make every excuse not to do it, right? I mean, just a basic example, one thing I preach a lot is why we should go soul winning, right? But isn't it true that many church members would make like every excuse not to go soul winning, right? It's basically fleeing from the presence, or fleeing from the direction that God wants you to go. So look, Jonah was a great man of God, but he's given an assignment he does not want to do because he does not like the Assyrian Empire. Now go back to Genesis 22. But see, Abraham was a great example to us. He's willing to do something that I do not think I would be willing to do. And I think this is the reason why God chose Abraham for this job, because he was willing to sacrifice his son, give away the number one thing that was probably most precious to him in the entire world, his own son that they had prayed for decades. Point number one, we see that Abraham was ready to serve God. And we need to be ready no matter what that means. Number two, he was reliant on God. He was reliant on God. Genesis 22 verse 5, And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass. And so basically he brings a couple men with him, and basically he tells these men, I want you to stay behind. Okay? I want you to stay behind. And then Abraham and Isaac are going to go forward. Now we're going to go back there in a second. Go to James chapter 2 for a second. James 2. James chapter 2. And Abraham uses an example in James 2, which of course is the hotly debated chapter in the Bible. But notice what it says here in James 2 verse 21. Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect? And a scripture was fulfilled which said, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed on him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. You see then how by works a man is justified and not by faith only. See, Abraham is called the friend of God, and in order to be the friend of God, you need to number one, be saved, and number two, you need to obey what God says. It's not about being saved in James chapter 2. It's about being the friend of God. And if you want to be the friend of God, it's not good enough just to be saved. In fact, many saved people, the Bible says, can become the enemy of God, the exact opposite of the friend of God. Abraham was the friend of God because he was not only saved, but he was actually following what God says. Now what the Bible says is that Abraham was justified not only by his faith, but also by his works. How is he justified by his faith? Well, I mean with salvation. We're justified by faith alone, no works at all. How is he justified by his works? Well, it's tied into the fact that he was the friend of God. He was justified by his works before God as well because God saw that he obeyed what he said, and we're going to see at the end of Genesis 22, God actually blesses Abraham because he obeyed. So in a sense, we are justified by works, but that is here on earth, right? God looks down at our actions, and you know what, if we do bad, we get punished for that. If we do good, then we have God's mercy in our lives, right? And so Abraham was the friend of God because he had faith and he had works. Faith is what gets you to heaven. Works is what gives you the blessings of God upon your life and the protection of God upon your life. This is why he was called the friend of God, okay? Go back to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. Because you have to realize, Abraham didn't really do this work before people. He did this because even the two men were left behind. It was just him and his son, Abraham and Isaac. But he did this before who? Before God. God looked down on what he did, and God justified him by his actions. So God justified him by his works, and he was blessed by God later on in this chapter because of the fact he was actually obeying what God says. Genesis 22, verse five. Genesis 22, verse five. And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass. Now you say, brother Stuckey, you said point two is being reliant on God. What do you mean? Well, notice the rest of this verse. And I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you. What he tells these two men is that I and the lad are gonna go worship and we're gonna be back. See, Abraham believed his son was gonna come back with him. That's what we see in verse five. I and the lad will go worship and come again to you. Now, I don't believe that Abraham had all the pieces put together of what was gonna take place, but he had faith. He believed, according to verse five, he tells them we're gonna go worship and we're gonna be back. Right? I don't know if the men really knew what was going on, to be honest. Abraham and Isaac know what's going on, but he just says, we're gonna go worship and we're gonna be back. I'm not even sure if they knew what was going on. Right? But what we do know is that he relied on God and he trusted in God that his son would be delivered somehow. Right? Because he says, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you, saying that they would be back to those two men. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son. I mean, this is a great faith that Abraham is showing because your son's gonna be sacrificed. You're gonna put the wood on for the burnt offering. I'm not sure what Abraham thought was gonna take place. I'm not sure if he thought that he was gonna go through with it and then his son would be brought... I mean, who knows? I'm not really sure. And I'm not really sure Abraham really had an idea, but he just trusted, you know what, I just believe God has promised... Because remember, God had promised this son and God had promised I'm gonna bless you through this son. And so Abraham knew that. He knew the promise of God. So if his son would be gone, then the promise would be gone. It wouldn't fit. So I don't think Abraham had this fully put together, but I think he just was reliant on God. Hey, you know what? I doubted God before. I doubted about the child. He blessed me with the child. I don't think God's going back on his promise. I don't know what's gonna take place, but I'm gonna rely on God. Right? And he relied on God and said, I and the lad, we're gonna come again to you. But he tipped the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son. And he took the fire in his hand and a knife and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, My father. And he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire in the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Now, look, I believe his son is aware of what's gonna take place. I don't think his son is ignorant about what's taking place, but I think his son I think his son also has faith that there's gonna be a lamb provided. I do think they had some understanding, which I think we're gonna see here in a second, of what was gonna take place on the cross thousands of years later. I think they had an idea of the fact that there would be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now, I don't think they have everything put together as much as we do today because we look back, we know when these events took place. We can point back and say, roughly 2,000 years ago, the lamb of God was slain. Right? I don't think they had the exact date back then or they had everything put together, but I don't think they were completely ignorant of what was to come about a Savior coming and God coming and I think we're gonna see that in a second, but his son is asking for the lamb and it looks like his son thinks that a lamb might be brought in replacement. I'm not really sure, but I don't think his son is ignorant about what's taking place. Now, one thing did pop into my head and I'm not sure of the answer. I don't know what Sarah would be aware of taking place like in this situation. That's the one thing that I was kind of wondering about, but notice what it says here in Genesis 22 verse 8. Genesis 22 verse 8. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for burnt offerings. So they went both of them together. So notice how this is worded. And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So what is the Bible saying there where God will provide himself a lamb for burnt offering? What Abraham's saying to his son is, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for burnt offering. God is the lamb. It seems like Isaac is aware of there being a lamb of God. He's saying, Hey, you know what? God is gonna be the sacrifice. He is going to be the lamb of God that's slain, as the Bible says, from the foundation of the world. Now, it says something, though, a little bit different in other versions of the Bible. And specifically, I'm thinking of the NIV, which is what I have written here. Now, it does this in other versions as well. But realize that in the King James Bible, it says God will provide himself a lamb. And when you read that closely, what it's saying is that God is gonna provide himself. God is going to be the lamb. God is gonna die for your sins. Of course, that makes perfect sense to us. Here's what it says in the NIV. Abraham answered, God himself will provide the lamb. Well, that's completely different. Right? In the NIV, God himself will provide the lamb. Well, I mean, in the King James, God will provide himself. What is he providing? According to the King James, he's providing himself a lamb. He's gonna be the lamb of God. In the NIV, though, you know, my son, you know, God will provide the lamb. It's like, okay. I mean, obviously, that's kind of obvious that if you're having a lamb for burnt offerings, God's gonna give you the provision for that. It doesn't even make sense. But it's basically getting rid of the fact that God's gonna die for us. And look, this is why at our church, we believe every word is very important because it's basically the same words, right? God will provide himself a lamb. God himself will provide the lamb. I mean, there's only one difference in words. One of them is a in the King James, and in the NIV, it says the. Otherwise, those words are the exact same. But when they switch them around, it kind of changes everything, right? And it puts himself after God in NIV, and it changes it from God actually being the lamb to just that God's gonna provide a lamb, but it's not gonna be his, okay? I mean, Muslims would love Genesis 22 in the NIV because they don't believe that God died for them, and they're trying to change this whole chapter. But point number one is this. Abraham was ready to serve God. Point number two, we also saw that Abraham was reliant. He relied on God. He trusted that his son would be resurrected. He trusted him and his son would return. Point number three, Abraham was reverent toward God. He had reverence and respect towards God. Genesis 22, verse 9. Now, look, this event is taking a bit of time because Abraham is building an altar. They went several days' journey to this location. This is not just God tells Abraham to do something. Twenty minutes later, he does it. This is something where God tells them this, and the whole time, I mean, he's gotta have faith. And look, if you put yourself in the shoes of Abraham, maybe you have faith at the beginning, but it's gonna be hard as you're getting closer to the actual event to keep your faith. And he's building the altar. He's going through all these steps, laid the wooden order, bound Isaac his son, laid him on the altar upon the wood. But what you see is Abraham is reverent to what God says. God tells him to do something. He does it. He follows it. He respects God. Genesis 22, verse 10. Now, realize something, that what Abraham said in verse eight is God will provide himself a lamb. And people look at that, and they say, well, later on in the chapter, isn't that when the lamb comes? No, it's a ram. A ram and a lamb, yes, I understand the words rhyme, but it's a little bit different. A lamb is a young sheep. A ram is an uncastrated male sheep. But there's a reason why it went from lamb to ram. I mean, it's pretty close, and we're going to see the symbolism with this ram of how that symbolizes Jesus Christ. But there's a reason why, later on in the chapter, it wasn't a lamb, it was a ram. You say, why? Because the Bible's driving home the point in verse eight that when it said God will provide himself a lamb, it's not talking about the animal later in the chapter. It's talking about God will provide himself a lamb because it wasn't a lamb later on, right? I mean, there's a reason why that we see that in the Bible. I mean, it's a very powerful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, God will provide himself a lamb, and it tells us this in this chapter. Now, let me just say this. This is possibly the best chapter in the Old Testament that kind of pictures the Lord Jesus Christ up there with, what is it, Isaiah 53 and some other chapters. But at the same time, if I'm going to preach the gospel to people, I would still use the New Testament. We're looking at this chapter, we're explaining it, and it's really cool to us because we already believe this, and we can see things fitting together. But look, if I preach the gospel to a Muslim, I wouldn't turn to Genesis 22 unless I had to. I mean, if they were willing to listen to the gospel, I would just show them the New Testament. If I talk to a Jew and they're willing to listen to the gospel, I'd just show them the New Testament. I mean, it's good enough to get lots of people saved. And look, the gospel of Christ is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. And so look, as Bible-leaving Christians, when we preach the gospel, whether we speak to a Muslim or Christian or atheist or Catholic or INC or Buddhist or whatever, we can go through the same basic gospel presentation. Now, of course, depending on what their hang-up is, you might have to spend more time. For example, today, before I got rained out, I was at Nepo Park, and I was preaching the gospel to someone who was INC, so of course I spent some time explaining Jesus as God. Now, unfortunately, the rain kind of ended the conversation. I wasn't able to finish. But here's the thing. I don't really spend time at all on Jesus being God normally. I mean, I just kind of mentioned it in passing, and 95% of people in the Philippines agree. But here's the thing. If we were preaching in a Muslim country or in India or a country with a lot of religions, we're going to spend more time on that because that's a big hang-up they have. But I would still try to use the New Testament because it's just clear. We're looking at pictures in the Old Testament, and we can understand these things, but it's not as clear. Right? It's very clear in the New Testament where it says God was manifest in the flesh or hereby perceivedly the love of God because He laid down His life for us. Those are very clear verses. It's a little bit more confusing in Genesis 22. We're just looking at the pictures here. But anyways, turn it to... Well, actually, in Genesis 22, notice what it said in verse 13. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram. Notice this. Caught in a thicket by his horns. Caught in a thicket by his horns. Now, the Bible mentions this, and when you're reading the Bible and it kind of mentions a detail about something, you have to stop and ask yourself, why is he mentioning that the ram is caught in a thicket by his horns? We'll go to Matthew 27. Matthew 27. And basically, the ram is getting kind of caught in just kind of like a bramble patch or whatever with these thorns and everything like that. And notice what it says in Matthew 27, verse 29. And when they had plaited a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him and mocked him, saying, Hail, king of the Jews. Remember, with Jesus Christ, they had the crown of thorns and a reed in his right hand, and they bowed the knee before him Remember, with Jesus Christ, they had the crown of thorns that they put up on his head. Well, this ram, part of his head, his horns get caught in a thicket by his horns, and basically, you're seeing the picture like the crown of thorns and the Lord Jesus Christ, right? So we're seeing that picture in Genesis 22. The ram gets caught in a thicket by his horns, and so the idea is that his horns get caught and he's got kind of like this bramble patch around him or thorns around him, and he's caught there, and that picture's the Lord Jesus Christ. So there's many pictures here in Genesis 22. I'm sure I'm missing some of them, but there are many pictures here of the Lord Jesus Christ we find in Genesis 22. Now, go back to Genesis 22. So God will provide himself a lamb. Of course, a ram is what's later on, not a lamb, but this ram does get caught in a thicket by his horns, which is picturing the Lord Jesus Christ in the crown of thorns that would come on the Lord Jesus Christ. And it says he's caught in a thicket by his horns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son, and Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jireh, as it is said this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Now, here's the thing about this. It's not just that the ram was killed. It's not just that the ram was offered. The ram was a burnt offering. You say, Brother Stuckey, how's that picture of the Lord Jesus Christ? How is he a burnt offering? Because after he died, he went to hell for three days and three nights. I mean, it's clear as day. And, you know, I know we know the scripture. Let me turn there myself. Go to Acts 2, because we're talking about this. We might as well go there as well. I mean, why else was it a burnt offering? I mean, why else are all these burnt offerings in the Old Testament? I mean, they're a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ already as you're offering animals, but a burnt offering is picturing the fact that Jesus actually went to hell after he was dead for three days and three nights. And in Acts 2, verse 31, this was something that David prophesied, but he wasn't speaking of himself. It says here, verse 31, He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ. So he was prophesying about the resurrection of Jesus that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. And so basically Jesus Christ dies, and one part of this after he died was that his flesh did not see corruption, okay? And the idea is that basically after a period of time, your body will start to decompose, start to stink, and it will start to see corruption. Now the amount of time that would need to go by, I think it would depend on the circumstance and the situation. For example, if a body dies in, you know, ice cold weather in the snow, I mean, it's not going to decompose as quickly as if it were to be like out in the desert, okay? So I'm not saying the time frame is always going to be three days and three nights, but that is the time frame we have here. What's interesting is Lazarus, it said, was dead for four days. And what they said is, behold, he stinketh. The idea was his body did corrupt because enough time had gone by. As I said, in some locations, the body would probably decompose a lot quicker than that. And in some locations, it would take a lot longer. But just in the Bible, what we're seeing is that Jesus' body, his flesh, did not corrupt. Now he was already dead. What it's saying is his body didn't start that decomposing process and start to stink and everything like that. He rose again before that point. Now obviously, that happening to your body would not be a good thing. Decomposing and stinking and corruption and everything. So it also says in this verse that his soul was not left in hell. You see, your body corrupting would be a bad thing, and so your soul being left in hell would obviously be a bad thing as well. But see, this is obvious to us, and yet there's many Baptists that believe the soul of Jesus Christ went to the paradise part of hell for three days, just kind of hanging out at a resort before he went to heaven. And look, I'll be honest, I used to believe this. I'm mocking it, but let me just say this, that if somebody hears this and they get offended, I used to believe this as well, and now I realize how stupid it is. I realize now that I'm older and I've read through the Bible many times and been saved for a long time, you start realizing you shouldn't necessarily believe every word you hear out of a Baptist pastor's mouth. I think all of us have probably been guilty of that. It's like, well, I mean, my pastor knows more than me. I've only been saved for a few years. I haven't studied this out, he must be right. I used to believe the sons of God were fallen angels in the Old Testament, right? Now I'm confessing my faults one to another, right? And so the bottom line is obviously we should always read the Bible and trust it for ourselves. And look, if you're saved, you've got the Holy Spirit of God inside of you. I would caution you if you read the book of Isaiah and Ezekiel to be super dogmatic that everybody else was wrong and you're right. I mean, make sure you understand because those are some confusing passages, things that all of us can get confused on. But the bottom line is most of the Bible is not that confusing and you can read it yourself. You've got the Holy Spirit of God inside and you can understand it. You don't have to rely on somebody else. You can have the Holy Spirit teach you. Just read the Bible for yourself. By all means, you can learn great things from great people. You can learn things at church. You can learn things from your parents. You know, if they're Bible believers and things like that. But at the end of the day, if you're saved, you've got a better teacher than me. You've got a better teacher than your parents. You've got a better teacher than any pastor that you listen to. It's called the Holy Spirit of God that will teach you and guide you in all things. And look, there are things that you're not going to always understand because you're maybe through the Bible one or two or three times. And a lot of things you've got to keep reading and reading and reading. But you are capable of learning it on your own with the Word of God, right? You read the Bible, the Holy Spirit of God can help teach you these things. But anyways, go back to Genesis 22. Genesis 22. What I always found funny, though, was when it never was really settling to me because I believed in the Paradise Doctrine and Abraham's wisdom and all that stuff. But what I was confused about was like, well, what happened to Elijah, though? Because he went up, right? And I remember asking pastors that because I thought they were right. I believed them. But I was like, I'm just kind of confused about Elijah. The best answer I got was it was a special situation. It's like, well, what does that mean? Does that mean Elijah's sins were already paid for? Because they say that you couldn't go to heaven yet because the sins weren't paid for yet. So were Elijah's sins already paid for? Maybe he never sinned, right? Which obviously we see him sinning in 1 Kings 19. I mean, he's not perfect. So it's like, I always ask about Elijah, though, but I said, but he went up and they would always just try to avoid it. And I was just genuinely, I didn't know the Bible that well, but I just read he went up in a whirlwind and I was just like, but I'm confused. And I said, you know, well, where did he go? And they said, well, I heard a special situation. And then I also heard, you know, he went up, but then he had to go down. And so it was just like, there's no good answer to that, right? It's like, well, they just went to heaven in the Old Testament. That actually makes it very simple. Like, oh wow, it's that simple. They just went to heaven in the Old Testament. Whatever one we looked at, we saw that Abraham was ready to serve God at any time, regardless of what God said. We saw that he was reliant on God. He relied and trusted that his son would be delivered somehow. Number three, we see that he was reverent toward God. He respected God. He followed what God said. Now, the question is this, what, you know, Abraham was ready to serve God. He was relying on God. He was reverent towards God. So what is the result of being ready and reliant and reverent? What is the result if he's ready and reliant and reverent? Genesis 22, verse 15. And the angel of the Lord called on to Abraham out of heaven the second time and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, for because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son. Now, I do want to say this in passing because I already talked about the Muslims a little bit earlier. What Muslims say about Genesis 22 is that since it says thine only son, it must be Ishmael because Ishmael was born before Isaac. So if he only had one son, it must be Ishmael. But look at verse 2 again for a second. Genesis 22, verse 2. Genesis 22, verse 2. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac. Now, why is it that God specifically mentions that he's referring to Isaac? Even though Abraham would already know that, you'd presume he would know that because obviously Ishmael and Hagar left because he's just being very specific so there's no doubt when I say your only son, I'm talking about your only legitimate son. And he mentions Isaac's name. He wouldn't have to mention Isaac's name if there was only literally one son, but he's saying thine only son, thine son Isaac. Because he's letting him know, I'm talking about your legitimate son. That's why I'm telling you there's only one. Later on in the chapter when he says thine only son, well, it kind of refers back to the fact that he's already told him Isaac is your one legitimate promised son that I said you would have. So verse 16, And hast not withheld thy son, thine only son. Verse 17, Here's the result, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sandwiches upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. See, Abraham was greatly used by God and the reason why is because he was ready to serve God at all times, he was reliant on God, and he was reverent toward God. He followed what God said, he did what God said, he was different than other people. He wasn't perfect. Obviously, we know that. Abraham makes many mistakes. We've highlighted those mistakes and look, in our lives, we're not perfect either, but we could still be ready to serve God. We could still rely on God. We could still be reverent toward God. Are we going to have mistakes along the way? Of course. Abraham had mistakes along the way. But unfortunately, when people make mistakes, oftentimes they just kind of give up. Right? Not Abraham though. He made a lot of mistakes. He kept going. The reason why he has this great promise and is greatly used by God is not simply because he's saved. There are plenty of people that were saved. But Abraham was not only saved, he was also a friend of God because he not only had the faith, but he had the works as well. Verse 18, And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. Why? Because thou hast obeyed my voice. Not simply because he believed, but because he obeyed the voice of God. So Abraham returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beer-sheba. And Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba. And it came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also borne children unto thy brother Nahor. Haz is firstborn, and Buz is brother, and Kimuel the father of Aram, and Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlath, and Bethel. And Bethel begat Rebekah. These eight Milcah did bear to Nahor, Abram's brother. And his concubine, whose name was Rumah, she bare also Taba, and Gaham, and Thash, and Mayacah. So the question we have to take away from this chapter, it's a great chapter. It shows the Lord Jesus Christ. It's got a lot of great pictures and things like that. We saw the result in the life of Abraham when he served God, that in blessing God would bless him because he obeyed the voice of God. The question for us here tonight is, what would be the result if we were ready to serve God at any moment? Meaning we're ready to do what God says, even if we don't always like it. And look, when we're reading the Bible or we hear sermons and things are preached out of the Bible, sometimes we learn new things that we don't really want to do. Sometimes we hear something and our first reaction is, oh, man, I really don't want to do that. And I'm already doing so much for God. We need to be ready to serve God at all times. Number two, we need to rely on God. And how we can apply that is don't rely on your worldly wisdom. Don't rely and just trust your own brain and what seems right to you because it will mislead you. All of us are a product to some degree of the system and environment in which we were raised and the culture in which we're from. Look, depending on where you're from, it's going to affect how you view certain things. For me, an easy example is this. You know, like a couple of years ago, the first time I saw Magda Ramay and I saw people beating themselves, I was horrified. I couldn't look. I was like, oh, this is terrible. Everybody else looked like it was completely normal. You say, why? Because they've seen it every year. And here's the thing, in a couple of years, it's going to seem very normal to me. Now, I've had a couple of years off. I've only seen it one time because of this whole pandemic and everything. But I'm assuming I'll probably see it here in the next week and a half probably. And you know what? Eventually, it's going to be like, it's going to feel normal. Because it's common, you just get used to it, right? You can't just trust what seems right to you because what seems right to you is based largely on how you're raised and what you're around. You get desensitized to things. Seeing guys in dresses, it's becoming normal to me. It's so common, it's starting to feel normal to me. Just every day I see it, right? I didn't grow up seeing that, but then you see it all the time here and it's just, that's what you see. I mean, it starts to feel just kind of natural. You see it everywhere, right? So you cannot just trust in your own wisdom. You've got to rely on what God says. And how about being reverent toward God? In today's world, people are not very reverent toward God. People don't have a lot of respect for God. People use the Lord's name in vain all the time. No big deal. I always tell people, why don't you curse Buddha? Why don't you curse Muhammad? Why are you cursing God? Like, why do they always put God's name in front of these, when they're blaspheming God? Why don't you just curse Buddha, right? Why are you cursing a real God? Curse Shiva, why are you cursing God? And people that would say they're Christians, and then they blaspheme God, right? Music that blasphemes God, no reverence, no respect for God anymore. Or people that just kind of treat God as if he's not, you know, all powerful. Like for example, you know, the man upstairs. It's like, he's almighty God, right? We need to treat him with reverence and respect. And look, God will be your friend if you obey what he says, but it's kind of like a father-son relationship. I mean, yeah, the father wants to be friends with their child, but there needs to be some reverence and respect. Respect that authority, right? The friend, but also the person who will discipline you and is the authority as well. We ought to treat God like that. Yes, you know what? God loves us. He cares about us. He's with us. We need to be reverent toward God. But see, what would be the result if we were ready, reliant, and reverent towards God? I don't know what the answer is, but I want to find out. And I want you to join me in that pursuit. Let us be ready to serve God. Let us be reliant on God. Let us be reverent toward God. And let's see the result in our lives if we do those things. Let's close in word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and getting to see your word in this topic. And I ask you to help us in this room to follow these basic steps. Help us to be ready to serve you and do what you say, even if it hurts, even if it's not something we're naturally inclined to. Help us to be willing to do it. Help us to rely on you and trust in what you say above anything else and what the word of God says. And help us to be reverent toward you.