I want you to turn with me to a passage of scripture in the book of Genesis, chapter 22. Now while you're finding Genesis, chapter 22, I'll tell you that tonight I'm going to preach from the book of 1 Peter, chapter 2. Verses 1 through 9. Our subject tonight is a chosen generation. A chosen generation. God said you're a chosen generation. You are a royal priesthood. You are a holy nation. You are a special people. That's our subject tonight. Now let's read Genesis 22. I want to read about 14 verses. Genesis 22. It came to pass after these things, after these things, that God did, that word tempt is test or try Abraham. And said unto him, Abraham, he said, behold I, behold I, behold me, here I am. And he said, take now thy son, thine only son 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 of. And Abraham rose up early in the morning, saddled his ass, took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and cut the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him, Mount Moriah. Then on the third day, it was a three-day journey, on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place far off. And Abraham said to his young men, Abide ye here with the ice, 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. 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, Behold, or here am I, my son. And he said, Behold, father, the fire and the wood. Where is the lamb for burnt offering? And Abraham said, My son, God will provide. My son God will provide himself a lamb for 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 and altar, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him upon 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. He said, Here am I. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the land, 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 was 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. you look in your margin, it says, the Lord will see, the Lord will see to it, or the Lord will provide. My son, God will provide. He called that name of that place Jehovah-Jiva. As it is said to this day, in the mount of the Lord it shall be seen. Now our text begins in verse 1 with these words, it came to pass After these things. After these things. Now, after what things? Well, after many trials. Many trials. I tell you, most of us would think that God had already tried Abraham, his servant. It says after these things that God did really try him. God had already tried him. Many times. Severely. The Jews said that Abraham had ten great trials. Maybe you could take that assignment and find out what those ten great trials were. I'll give you a few hints. You know, when he was 75 years of age, God called him out of his father's house. He was living very comfortably down there in the land of idolatry. with his father and all his kinfolks. And God came to him and said, Abraham, get thee out of thy father's house and away from thy kindred unto the land I shall show you. And Abraham had to leave all that he counted dear and precious to him because God was more precious. He believed God. And then, you know, Abraham, another trial, he had no certain dwelling place. It says Abraham dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob. And then Abraham had that confrontation with Lot. That's another trial, great trial. He took his nephew Lot with him. And they were very, very prosperous. The Lord had blessed Abraham and blessed Lot, and they just had an abundance. And it wasn't Abraham and Lot that got into a conflict, but their servants. They were crowded. They were all in the same place, two or three families, and there was conflict between their servants. So Abraham finally told Lot, said, just to avoid any problem between us, just take what you want. Just take what you want, and I'll take what's left. Choose the land you want to go to. Choose your homestead. Just take it and go. And they did. And then they had the battle of the kings when he had to go down and rescue Lot. Got in trouble. Abraham had to go to war and rescue his nephew. And then when they came back from that battle, another trial is the kings of that great powerful empire, Sodom and surrounding areas, offered to make Abraham rich. All different kinds of trials. Trials come in different forms and shapes and fashions, but they wanted to make him rich. And he said, no, no, he said, I've lifted my hand to God, and he'll supply my needs, and leave it there. And then, you know, God told him he's going to destroy Sodom. Abraham's nephew was down there, his wife and daughters, and sons-in-law, and God said, I'm going to burn Sodom to the ground. prayed, interceded for Sodom. He agonized, didn't he, for Sodom. Do you remember how he agonized? That was a trial. He agonized. He knew it was an awful place, but he had an interest in it. And he agonized. And then he had that confrontation with Abimelech. Do you remember the wicked king about him? The king wanted his wife. And he had that confrontation with him. Along came Ishmael, born to Abraham of Hagar, and when he was a teenage boy, God made him send Ishmael away from home. He said, Ishmael is the law. Ishmael is the bond son. He's born of the bond woman. He's not the heir. Isaac's the heir, born of the free woman. Isaac's the gift of God. Ishmael is your work, your doing, not God's doing, so get rid of him. And Abraham had to send away that son whom he loved. That was a terrible trial. And then it says here, and you can find more of them, but it says after these things. Here Abraham is 115 years old. Seems like God has reserved the most difficult time, the greatest trial for these last years. That's the mystery. You know, John Fleming quoted me a song the other night after the service, a song we love very much, a hymn. God moves in mysterious ways his wonders to perform. Now you just take that opening line, God moves. God always moves. God is always working. God is always fulfilling his purpose. God moves, and he moves in a mysterious way. I can't explain this to you, I'm just going to read it and preach it. I can't explain to you the hand of God and the work of God and the purpose of God and the will of God and the life of this man. It seems like to me he's a pretty true, pretty faithful man. Why the Lord was pleased to put him through these things, I don't know. I don't know. God moves in a mysterious way. Don't you try to explain God now. You're getting out of your realm when you start trying to comprehend God. That's what these preachers are trying to explain God. Forget it. Proclaim Him, don't explain Him. Somebody asked Barnard one time, he said, explain this to me. He said, I'm not in the explaining business. I'm in the proclaiming business. I can't explain it. Can you explain God? Explain this to me. I can't explain it, I'm proclaiming it. God moves in mysterious ways to perform what? His wonders. And I'll tell you, wonders are mysterious. If it's wondered, I can't perform wonders. But the one who performs wonders is the one who can move in a providential and mysterious way. See that? And the greater the wonder, the greater the ways. That's right. And I can't explain. I do know this. Faith must be tried. Faith must be tried. And it will be. It will be. If you are a believer, God will try you. Let me show you that whole scripture. I'm coming back to that. Here's something we need to look at, because everybody here, turn to James 1. Everybody here has trials. When I was opening a service in prayer a while ago, I had a lot of you on my mind. You who are in the midst of, I think of a family right back here, a couple of families I'm looking at back here, and a great wife and mother in a rest home, been there for years. I think of them, this trial. I think of, I think of, This beautiful little blonde-headed girl this week had a difficult time. I think of you. I think of some of you facing trials. And we're going to be tried now. We're going to be tried. And don't listen to the preacher who stands up and says, it's fun being saved. It's a joy to be saved, but it's not always fun. In other words, there's some trials. There's some heartaches, some real heartaches. But it's got to be. It's got to be. Look at James 1, verse 2 through 4. My brethren, count it joy when you fall into different trials. The word temptation is trial. Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. Patience, maturity, confidence, There are a lot of things, this trying of your faith. And then verse 4 says, let patience have her perfect work, that you may be perfect, mature, entire, wanting nothing. God is trying us. He has tried us. He is trying us. And it may be that the toughest time is ahead, Jim. I don't know. Abraham's toughest time was ahead when he was old. God will not suffer us to be tried above that which he can give us strength to bear. Let me show you another scripture, 1 Peter 1, verse 6 and 7. Listen to this. He talked about that salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, but verse 6 says, wherein you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness. through many trials, through many trials, that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than a gold that perishes, though it be tried with fire, might be found to the praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13 says, Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. There's no son that the father doesn't discipline. If he loves him, he's got to. And let me give you some reasons. Number one, faith is trial. I'll take this from Job. If I believe God, if I believe Christ, God's going to try that faith. And He tries it, number one, to reveal it, to reveal it. You know, Job said when all of this happened to him, he said, well, the Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Job said that after all of this had happened. So it's evident he believed God. He could say it even under the most difficult circumstances. God gave it and God took it away. You know, it's not hard for me to stand up here. My stomach's full. I've got a suit on and I've got a home over there, a nice warm house. Darcy's got a roast already ready for dinner and my children all sitting around here. It's not hard to say that now the Lord gave and the Lord take it away. Is it? I could say it and not mean it. You understand what I'm saying? Tom, the Lord's blessed you to death, hasn't he? He just blessed you. And it's easy to say it right here. But now wait a minute. Suppose that arm there was empty this morning. And right next to you that one was gone. And right next to you that one was gone. And you're sitting there with balls all over you. Now, if Tom says and I say, well the Lord gave and the Lord took it away, he must believe it. See what? He must believe it. Now that's why, isn't that right? I'm telling you the truth. God will try your faith, my faith, to reveal it. Secondly, to strengthen it. That's right, to strengthen it. Old Job, the longer he went along, the stronger he got. He finally said, well though he slayed me, I'll trust him. Let him kill me. I'll still trust him. And another thing it does, it assures faith. He finally came down in chapter 19, he said, well, worms are going to destroy this body. But in my flesh, I'm going to see my Redeemer. Got stronger. Got stronger, got confident. And then he uses that trial so we can be a blessing to others. That's right. So we can be a blessing to others. Let me read you something over here. Don't turn to it. Let me just read this. I'll tell you where I'm finding it. I'm finding it in 2 Corinthians chapter 1. Blessed be God. Even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of comfort, all comfort, now watch it, who comforteth us, who comforts us in our trials so that we may be able to comfort them which are in any kind of trouble by the comfort which we ourselves have been Could that be said any clearer? Bless God, the Father of mercy and God of comfort, who comforts me in my trouble, that I might help you in your trouble. Back years ago, 23 years ago, our son Robbie had just been killed in Vietnam, and I was down south in a meeting. And I have an aunt. She's gone now. She's dead now. But she has always been the religious one in our family. This goes back 70 years ago, that she was a Southern Baptist president of the WMU. on the pulpit committee of the church, she was the most religious, religious person I knew. And a nice lady, a lovely, she kind of helped raise me. I lived just a mile and a half when I was a poor little old country boy during the depression from her, and they were kind of rich. They had a car and stuff like that, you know, and indoor plumbing and started living in a mansion, I thought. But she was nice to me and took me to church Taught me into a profession of faith when I was nine years old, made a profession, got baptized, you know, at her church, First Baptist Church, Wilton, Alabama. But I was kind of her pet. And that went on for years until I came to the knowledge of this gospel of grace. And I wasn't a pet no more. My theology crossed hers too badly. But anyway, I was back down there 23 years ago after Robbie had been killed when her daughter-in-law had gotten polio. This was back there before the shots. Her husband, her son was a doctor, a physician. And his wife, she was a beauty queen in the Miss Alabama contest and all that sort of thing. Mother of two or three children. She got polio and became a wheelchair Helpless. Helpless. Beautiful, beautiful woman. And she lived. My son died, but Jean lived in a wheelchair. And I was at my aunt's house. Just went by to pay my respects and to see them, the family and all. And she cornered me. And she said, now what have you got to say about your son's death? in light of what you believe." I said, the light of what I believe gives me a joy and comfort and assurance about my son's death. I said, God took him. God willed it. God purposed it. God did it on purpose for my good and his glory and that's what I believed then and that's what I believe now. And I can rest and rejoice in that comfort that God took him when he pleased him. And it will all be for my good and God's glory." I said, don't you believe that? She said, no, I do not. I said, what do you believe about Jean in the wheelchair, your daughter-in-law? I said, you say you're a believer, and she says she's a believer, she's a child of God, and you're a child of God, and Lester's a child of God, and all these people are children of God. What do you believe? She said, I'll tell you what I believe. Gene was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ran into a germ. And that's the reason she's like she is. I said, well, Aunt Lois, that won't comfort anybody. I'll have to go back and tell our folks, just be sure you don't get in the wrong place at the wrong time. Because God's not there. If you get in the wrong place at the wrong time, something awful might happen to you. And I said, I'm usually in the wrong place. And about everything I do is the wrong time. And I'd stay in constant fear. There'd be no peace. Would there have been peace? No rest, no joy, no comfort. But when you believe that your Heavenly Father reigns and rules and controls all things, past, present and future, seen and unseen, good and bad, and everything that enters your door or stands around your house or touches you, it can't, no power, no force, no evil, no one can touch you without His permission. And if He gives that permission, grants that permission, it's for His glory and for your eternal good. Every ache, every pain, every heartache, every trouble, every trial, every disappointment, every failure, every success is ordered of my God. Not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father. Not a hair of my head is not numbered. My name is in the palm of his hand and on his breastplate next to his heart and whatever happens for his good. I told her, I said, you don't have any comfort. I do. I can go out here singing. Y'all don't have anything to sing about. That was the end. But that's all I see, so that's what I believe. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, others, maybe, if there's someone here, I don't believe there is because I know all of you, but if there's someone here that believes that free will foolishness, I feel sorry for you. I really do, because you don't have any comfort. The comfort's in God, who's the first cause of all things, and God doesn't. All right, God Almighty says here He, after these things, He did try Abraham, and He said, Abraham! He said, I'm here. Verse 2, Now you take your son, your only son, whom you love, and you get him up there to Mount Calvary. Myriah, I'm told, is the same mountain on which our Lord Jesus died. And you offer Him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, I'll tell you how. And when Abraham heard these words, I know many questions raced through his mind. Now, Brandon, let me tell you something. We believe God's sovereign in everything. We accept his will. Not always without objections. Huh? Best be honest. Not always. We may not say it, but it comes through the mind. Now, don't tell me. I know Abraham was thinking several things. How in the world could I ever put a knife through my son's heart and burn his body? Now how am I going to do that? I know that bound of God. Don't you think he did? How am I going to explain this to him? How am I going to explain this to Sarah? This is her only son. How am I going to explain this to my neighbors who offer their children to false gods? Well, he didn't say anything. He didn't explain it to anybody. He just listened to God and believed Him. Just believed God. Don't get in too big a hurry to go explaining things. All right, let's just wait on God. I wish I could right there cross my head here and keep pounding in it, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, on God. Don't get in a hurry. And God didn't speak to him again for three days. Just gave that order and didn't speak again. And he says, Abraham, verse 3, he believed God, so he rose up early in the morning. I can see him. I don't imagine he slept a whole lot that night, do you? I don't believe he did. The very fact that God spoke to him was enough. These preachers tell me that God is always talking to them. You know, I don't find God speaking to these people in the Old Testament too often, but when he did, he said something. Abraham got up early that morning and went out and cut wood. Went out and cut wood. He cut wood. He got a couple of servants and they cut some wood to build a fire to burn Isaac. And he sharpened his knife. I can see him out there getting one of those big wheels, you know, and he was sharpening that knife on that wheel. Wanted it good and sharp. Going to have a sacrifice. Saddled his eyes and went to the place God showed him. On the third day, verse 4, brother of mine, how do you know it's three days? It says it's three days right here. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and he saw the place. And Abraham said to the young men, I want you to listen to this man of faith. You stay here. Down at the foot of the mountain. You two boys stay here. I and the lad, now Abraham was an old man at that time, 115 years old. I and the lad are going up yonder and worship God. Now watch it. And we'll come again to you. Who will? He didn't say, I'll be back. He said, we'll both be back. Let's turn to Hebrews chapter 11 and it will show you why Abraham said that. Hebrews chapter 11. You see, Abraham believed God. Abraham couldn't explain what God was doing. He couldn't, didn't try to. Hebrews chapter 11, verse 17. Abraham didn't try to explain God to these young men. He just, he just believed God. He knew that Isaac, God told him, in Isaac your seed will be called. And Abraham knew that if he killed Isaac, God would raise him from the dead. Listen, Hebrews 11, 17. By faith Abraham, when he was tried, he offered up Isaac. You see, he didn't offer him up. God stopped him. He offered him up in his heart for three days. Didn't he? Three days he offered him up in his heart. He'd already given Isaac up. And he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, he's a picture of the father given Christ, of whom it was said in Isaac, shall thy seed be called Abraham, accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead. From whence he also, he did receive him in a figure. He was literally given to God. and raised, and that man's heart was at peace about this thing. He just went through, he told his young friend, he said, you stay right here, the lad and I go up there and worship, whatever God does will be fine, and we'll both be back. That's faith, that's what I want. Believe God. Well, let's read on a little bit more before I quit. Verse 7, and Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, Well look at verse 6, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. Now this will give you some idea of how big Isaac was. My guess is he was about like Luke or Jeremy or Jason, one of these boys here. About that big. 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. Because Abraham laid the wood on his back to carry up a mountain. And Abraham himself took the knife, and the fire was that whatever they had on there, they didn't have matches, whatever they had on the end of a stick, they kept a fire going and carried the fire burning with them. Some kind of oil or whatever they had. But they're walking up that mountain, and Isaac, listen, you boys and girls, listen to me a moment. And I know church services get long, You sit and you look at the Bible and you don't have a great deal of spiritual interest, but you'd rather, a whole lot rather be out playing right now than in here listening to me. And I know you'd say, oh no preacher, oh yes, I was, I know, I know. And I ain't mad at you about it either because I used to, I went to sleep in church one time and the preacher really worked me over. I could, well if he'd been a little more interested I wouldn't have gone to sleep maybe, I should have, I wouldn't have told him that. But anyway, you sit there and listen, but let me tell you something, you're hearing, I know you're hearing something, and you're hearing enough someday to save your soul, to make you wise to salvation. So just sit and get what you can and listen when you can and be patient with us older folks insists you come because it's for your good and for God's glory. And you sit and listen. I'll tell you the truth. I'm telling you the truth. I'm going to read it from God's Word. I'm going to tell you the truth. I'm not going to lie to you. I'm going to tell you the truth. See, Isaac here was about your size, and here he was going with his granddaddy up a mountain to worship God. And that boy knew enough about worship and about God and about life and salvation that he knew you had to have a lamb. Isn't that right? He saw the fire and the knife and he carried the wood and he said, Grandpa, Father, Father, he's going to be a grandpa, he said, Father, going up there with his father, he said, Father, we're going up here to worship and we don't have a lamb. And I know without the shedding of blood, there's no remission. And you boys and girls, when you're listening to preachers someday and you get a little older, and that preacher doesn't tell you who God is in his holiness and sovereignty, and doesn't tell you who Christ is in his blood and righteousness, you question him. You say, where's the lamb? Where's the lamb? Without a lamb, there's no salvation. And that's what Abraham said, my son, My son, listen to verse 8, Abraham said, My son, God will provide. Now that would be a pretty good thing for you to live by, those five words. Just say that. When things get dark and things get difficult, I don't care what the circumstances, you just turn and say, My son, God will provide. God will provide. God will provide. God will provide. You know that Frank, he always has had that, and he always will. God will provide. My son, take this and learn it. God will provide. But especially in regard to salvation, in regard to redemption, in regard to life, in regard to heaven, in regard to sin, in regard to what our need is in our souls. My son, God will provide. himself a lamb. Now, there are three things there. I'm going to wind it down with this. If you learn these three things, you'll learn the gospel. Number one, God provides the lamb. God provides the lamb. The lamb that taketh away the sin of the world, the lamb that sheds his blood to put away our guilt and our iniquity, that lamb came from God. God provides the lamb. You don't. The church doesn't. The water doesn't. God does. God provides the lamb. He provided the lamb from the foundation of the world. Lamb slain. He provided the lamb out of love. He provided the lamb according to his own purpose. He provided the lamb. Here's the second thing. God provides himself the lamb. He is the lamb. He gave himself. Christ came himself. He, by himself, he perished. I said, He's the Lamb that died. The Lamb stood, John said, out of the midst of the throne, a Lamb as it has been slain. God provides the Lamb and provides himself. He's the Lamb. John pointed to Christ and said, Behold the Lamb of God. Here's the third thing. God provides that Lamb for himself. You got it now? In other words, he's the one that provides the Lamb, he is the Lamb himself, and he's the offended God to whom the Lamb is offered and sacrificed. It's his law the Lamb fulfills. It's his justice the Lamb satisfies. It's his wrath the Lamb puts away. It is him that the Lamb enables to be just and justified. Is that the gospel, Cecil? If I've worded that, that's it, isn't it? My father, where's the lamb? My son, God will provide you a lamb. He provided the lamb. Himself is the lamb, and he provided the lamb for himself. Now, they came to the place, verse 9, which God had told him of. And Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood on the altar, and bound his son Isaac, and laid him on the altar. A lot of questions here, aren't there? I can't explain. This is a unique scene. But how did he ever talk that boy into letting him bind him? Abraham was an old man. That boy was strong and young. It may be that they sat down and had a talk, like the Father and the Son in eternity. The Father said, My son, I give you a people. I make you their servant. You're going to have to die that they live." And Abraham may have said to Isaac, Isaac, all he told him, he took him on back where God had promised him a seed, that it would be through Isaac, a Redeemer would come through him. But he said, Isaac, he said, Isaac, I must give you up to receive you forever. Something of that type. I believe something like that went on. But that boy willingly laid down on that altar. But of course it can't be. It never was intended. Abraham would never kill his son. God would never require him to kill his son. No. No. It was a trial of his fate. But Abraham saw that ram caught in the thicket, brought that ram over and took his son off the altar and put that ram in the stead of his son, in the place of his son. And that's when Christ said, Abraham saw my day and rejoiced. Abraham saw another lamb taking his place in his stead on that altar. Substitution. That's what the gospel is all about. And he just named that place. He named it fittingly, didn't he? He named it, God will provide. God will see to it. And you can take that as your motto, as your watchword from now on. God will provide. God will see to it. My hope is built, let's sing that, Mike, on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame. I wholly lean on Jesus' name. My son, God will provide. Now you depend on that. You rest on that, you build on that, you trust in that, God will provide. A lamb, himself the lamb, and a lamb for himself. And you'll be accepted in that lamb. Oh, what's that number? 272. Let's sing that, we'll worship the Lord with our morning offering and be dismissed. 272, let's stand while we sing.