The fire and the Lamb

I ask you to turn to Genesis chapter 22, verse 1 of Genesis 22. And it came to pass after these things, that is after all of the trials and the sojourning of Abraham, after these things God did tempt or try Abraham, said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Now I want you to notice a number of references in our reading to the place. He went unto the place. Verse 4, Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

Abraham said unto his young men, Am I ye here with the ass? And I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to you. And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire at his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Abraham speak, Isaac speak unto Abraham his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here am I my son, and he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

So they went both of them together, and they came to the place which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him in the altar upon the wood. And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here am I, and he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the 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.

Now another brief reading in Isaiah's prophecy, chapter 30. Verse 33 of Isaiah, chapter 30. For Topheth is ordained of old, for the king, yea, for the king it is prepared.

He hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire and much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it. Now finally the revelation, the last book in your Bible, chapter 19 and verse 20.

20. And the beast was taken, and with him a false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and then that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with brimstone.

Now verse 10 of chapter 20. This is a thousand years later. The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are.

You notice that? The beast, the false prophet, they've been there for a thousand years, and now the devil is cast into the lake of fire. They shall be tormented day and night forever and ever. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and it was found no place for them.

And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell, hades, delivered up the dead which were in them.

And they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire. Now that'll be our reading, and we trust the Lord will give a little help at the close of this meeting.

I want you to notice that we have read about the fire and about the lamb. Chapter 30 of Isaiah where we read, reminds us of a place of eternal punishment. We read that is kindled with the breath of God, fire that's burning, that will never, never go out.

And dear unsaved friend, if you die in your sins, that's where you will spend eternity, in a place of everlasting torment, to weep out your folly, to look back to every time that you have heard the gospel message and neglected or rejected, but there'll be no opportunities then. Your doom will be sealed, it will be forever and forever. There's fire, but there's no lamb there.

But in the revelation, we read about a place where there's no fire. I could have read again, from chapter 21, that in this place there's nothing that will enter in, nothing that defileth, but they whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. The Lamb is the light of that glorious city, that's the Lord himself.

There's no fire there, the Lamb is all the glory we sing in Emmanuel's Lamb. But just for a few minutes, I want to consider what we read in chapter 22 of the Genesis about fire and about the Lamb or the ram. Abraham was a man after God's own heart, just as David and others were.

Abraham was called the friend of God. And on this occasion, Abraham had been tried again and again. He had been called out of Ur of the Chaldees, and he had left his home.

And now God speaks to him again one day, and he said, Abraham, I want Isaac. Actually, God didn't want Isaac's life, he wanted to test Abraham's loyalty. He said, Abraham, you take your son, you're only the child of promise, the one that he had prayed for, the one that would be his inheritor.

You take him to one of the mountains that I'll tell you of in the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering. Now, let me ask you fathers here, what would you have done? Well, I think I'd have had a good long sleep that morning. But it says about Abraham, we read it, he rose up early in the morning.

You see, Abraham believed God. In fact, God credited Abraham with a deed that he didn't have to do. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that he received him as a figure back from the dead.

Abraham believed that if he took the knife and slew his son, God would raise him. Can I prove it? Listen to these words. He said to the servants, I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and we're coming back again.

Both of us, God will raise him up again. But I want you to think of that journey. Three days, we don't read of anything being said between Abraham and Isaac.

He took the fire, reminding us of the judgment of God. He took the wood and he laid it on Isaac, his son, and they went toward the place. Every time I read that, I think of Luke chapter 23.

When they were come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified him. Because that's where the temple was, a place of sacrifice. And so they go to the place.

And on the third day, Abraham lifts up his eyes and he saw the place. And here's the first mention of worship in our Bible. God tells us that Abraham said to his servants, I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again.

So he took the wood, he laid it on Isaac, and he took the knife, and he took the fire, and they went both of them together. Not a word spoken, three days. And finally, Isaac is the first to speak.

You notice that? He says to his father, here's the fire, here's the wood, but where's the lamb? You know, it's a wonderful day in the experience of any Christian parent when a child begins to ask questions. You got an unsaved child in your home? I remember when our oldest daughter was 17 years of age, senior in high school. She came home from school one day, she said, Daddy, how do you know when you get saved? She had never asked that before.

I said, how do you know you're a sinner? Well, she said, that's what the Bible says, we're all sinners. Well, I said, are you trying to believe that? No, she said, that's what the Bible says, God's Word. And I simply said, the same God that tells you you're a sinner says that Christ died for the ungodly.

And finally, Mr. Crawford and I were preaching the gospel in Stout. The hall was packed. In fact, there were so many people coming.

There were sitting young teenagers sitting along the edge of the platform. You could hardly get through to get up there to preach the gospel. And after the meeting, one of the brethren said to me, I think I saw your daughter smiling tonight.

But going home in the car, we had others with us. She said nothing. And I thought, well, there's nothing to what he thinks.

But we were living, Mr. Crawford and I, for the conference in La Crosse, actually. And I'm up to her room to say goodbye. And she's sitting with an open Bible on her bed and the tears tripping her, coursing down her cheeks.

She says, Daddy, I think I got saved. I said, well, how do you know that? Well, she said it says Christ died for the ungodly. And that's me.

And I want to tell you, there was joy in our home that night. Nothing like seeing loved ones gathered in. Wonderful when they begin to ask questions.

Isaac says, here's the fire. Here's the wood. Where's the lamb? And Abraham says, God will provide.

Provide. So they come to the place. Abraham builds an altar.

Isaac, a young man, perhaps 25, 26 years of age, climbed up onto the altar. And he's bound. He wasn't tied with rope.

There was no hemp in those days. It was likely a vine or something. But he was bound, just like you in the meeting tonight.

One of the brethren mentioned about being in bondage. Well, if you're not saved, you're in bondage to sin. The devil is your father.

He holds the reins of your life. You don't do your own wishes. He's in absolute control.

And he's leading you downward and downward toward hell and the lake of fire. And he laid the wood in order. And he bound Isaac, his son.

And he took that knife. Isaac was so near to the judgment. He was near to the fire.

And Abraham raised that knife about to plunge it into his son. And he heard a voice twice over. You know, when God speaks twice in the Bible, it means he's in a hurry.

Abraham, Abraham, lay not thy hand upon the lamb. Neither do anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God. And Abraham turned and he looked.

And he saw a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. What did he do then? Maybe there's somebody here and you're saying, well, I would love to be saved. I wish I knew that my sins were all forgiven, that I had the assurance of heaven.

I want to tell you in about two minutes how you can know. Abraham went over to the ram that was caught in the thicket by his horns, the place of strength. And he brought the lamb over to the altar, the ram.

And Isaac was loosed. Now the ram is laid on the altar and Isaac stands and he watches. And Abraham takes the knife and he kills the ram.

And here's what we read. He offered him up in the stead of his son. Everyone that's saved here today would say there was one that was willing to die in my stead.

There was a savior. He took my place nearly 2,000 years ago upon an old rugged cross. He was nailed by hands and feet, bearing shame and scoffing rude in my place.

Condemned he stood. And if you would take that in tonight, that there was one that took my place. If you met Isaac the next day and said, Isaac, I thought you were supposed to die.

I would say there was a ram that took my place. And friend, if you tonight would understand that this lovely man, the Lord Jesus Christ, came from heaven, went to Calvary to suffer, to bleed and die, so you might be saved, you could leave this meeting rejoicing, knowing that all is well for eternity. The Lord help you to trust him tonight, shall we pray.

Our Father, we thank thee for our coming together, for the kind attention given to the preaching of thy word. We thank thee for the ministry of the word of God to thy people. And now, Lord, we think of any in the gathering that are not saved.

We ask, Lord, that thou open their understanding, help them to take it in, what it meant to thee, the holy one, to bear away their sin. We commend this to thee, ask thy parting blessing for food provided. We give thanks in the precious name of the Lord Jesus.

Amen. I want to sing a little hymn in closing, number 333. Just as I am without one plea, that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come.

We'll sing the first two in the last verses. Before we sing it, I want to tell you a little incident. When I was a boy of 12, my parents went back to Ireland.

They hadn't seen their folks for 17 years. There were no planes flying from New York to London. Five days aboard ship.

I went to a Sunday school, stayed with my grandmother in the city of Belfast. Went to a Sunday school in a gospel hall. They had two sessions on a Sunday afternoon with over 200 children in each of those sessions.

One Sunday school teacher said to her class of girls, I want you to learn the words to this hymn, the one we're going to sing. And if you come back next Sunday and can say it, you'll get a prize. One of the girls went home.

Her father was smoking a cigarette, reading the Sunday paper. She said, Daddy, I want you to help me learn this so we'll get a prize. Now she said, you say it after me, just as I am without one plea.

And he said, just as I am without one plea. But that thy blood was shed for me. And he said, but that thy blood was shed for me.

And that thou bidst me come to thee. And he said that. And then she said, O Lamb of God, I come.

But he wouldn't say those words. Now, come on, Daddy, she says. We've got to learn it.

We've got to get the prize. And she went over it two or three times. And every time when she got to the last line, he refused to say it.

But then finally, when she quoted it again, that thou bidst me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come. That big man broke down. He had heard the gospel as a boy, but he wasn't saved.

He began to weep. He said, O Lamb of God, I come. And God saved him.

She said, Daddy, we'll get the prize. We'll get the prize. I told that a few years ago down in the land, Sunday night when he asked me to preach the gospel.

And there was an unsaved husband of a sister in the assembly told me after the meeting. He said, when you quoted that hymn, I got saved. You could get saved in this meeting.

What an end to the conference it would be if one of you teenagers that know you're in danger of being in hell fire would simply believe God that the Lord Jesus took my place and he died at Calvary. The first two and last verses of 333. Yeah.

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