(Genesis) Genesis 22:11-14

Now, James can write, don't you see, that Abraham was justified by works when he offered his son. But wait just a minute. Did he offer his son? And Abraham stretched forth his hand, took the knife to slay his son.

And he plunged the knife into his son. Is that the way your Bible reads? No. Mine doesn't read that way either.

And in verse 11 it says, 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.

Now, he knows now. How does he know? By action, by works. Before it was by faith.

Now God sees your heart. He knows whether you're genuine or not. But your neighbor doesn't know.

Your friends don't know. They can only know by works. And that's the reason James could say that faith without works is dead.

It has to produce something. Now God tests Abraham. Now may I say that I believe that any person that God calls, any person God saves, any person that God uses, is going to be tested.

God tested Abraham. And God today tests those that are his own. He tests you and me today.

And these are tests that are given to us to strengthen our faith, and to establish us, and make us serviceable for him. That is the important thing that we need to note here. This man, Abraham, is now given the supreme test.

And God will not have to ask anything of him after this. Now, he said, Abraham, you're not to do this. And verse 13, And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.

So Abraham took this ram and he offered it for a burnt offering instead of his son. And that's been the substitution all the way from the Garden of Eden down to the cross of Christ. It was this little animal that pointed to his coming.

And God would not permit human sacrifice. But when his son came into the world, his son went to the cross and died. And God spared not his own son, but he delivered him up freely for you and for me.

And on that cross, it became an altar on which the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world is offered. It's very important to see that, friend. Now, verse 14 says, And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, in the Mount of the Lord it shall be seen.

And so Abraham names this place. And as I said before, a great many people believe that it's where Solomon's temple was built. And Golgotha, the place of a skull, is just right there on that same ridge that the temple was on that Abraham offered his son.

And it was there that the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. That is a glorious, wonderful thing to see here. And now Abraham calls the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh.

How wonderful it is. Here's where God intervened in his behalf.