Our dear Heavenly Father, we thank Thee this morning for Thy mercy that Thou hast shown upon us, that Thou hast brought us together again today to worship Thee. We thank Thee, Heavenly Father, for the services that have gone before. We thank Thee, Heavenly Father, for the opportunity of coming together to worship. and to worship Thee. Dear Father, we pray Thy blessings upon this service. May something be said that will benefit some heart. Dear Father, guide us and lead us throughout this day. May Thy name be honored and glorified. Be with those who are sick. Father, we pray Thy blessings upon them. Heal them, give them back to us in their strength. Be with us in our further services of this day. That Thy name may be honored and glorified. For it's in Christ's name we ask. Amen. Now, let's turn to number 159. Sing, My Name is Written There. ♪ I walk not with bridges made of silver nor gold ♪ I am redeeming, I am saving his soul. In the love of his kingdom, with his angels so fair, I may treasure them, I may treasure them, Of the faith I did claim, In the book of those he found, I may treasure them. God send favor, bid him come to set down the sea. From the blood of my Savior, give salvation for me. For his promise is written in the rivers that flow, through his head he has fallen. I will make them my star. My name's written there on the page I have laid in the book of God's kingdom. My name's written there. And here they go singing, with expansion the blood, With his glory climbing, in pure gardens so wide, Where no heathen think of him, to discover his name. When the angels are watching, My name's written there, My name's written there, On the page my end there, In the book of God's kingdom, My name's written there. Let's turn there and sing number 97, Blessed Be the Fountain. Blessed be the fountain of God, till the world of sin has revealed. Blessed be the gifts of the Father, only by His stripes we are made. Though a wond'ring heart from His door ♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, and I shall be white as snow. For he was the crown that he wore, and the cross his body o'ercame. Greatest ever sorrows he bore, but he suffered the sound of pain. May I give him health if he lives, Waitin' with my sails here below. Watch me in the cloud and the shell, And I shall be whiter than snow. Wash me in the blood of the Lamb, and I shall be white as snow. Father, I am not yet complete, I'll work as my Lord, not astray. Recipe my sins seem to be, Father, can not wash them away. Jesus did not bow, did not bow, Leaning on my promise I go. Let me have a push if you will, and I shall be quiet and slow. It's wider than the snow. Wider than the snow. It's wider than the snow. Watch me in the middle of the river. And I shall be wild and strong. I appreciate these songs about the blood. So many of our songs, they're taking the blood out of them. But I like these songs that have to do with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, for that's the basis of my salvation, the basis of the salvation of every individual that God's ever saved. For without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Now let's stand and sing number 68, the way of the cross, before we have the message. Christ needs no one but the Way of the Cross. There's no other way but this. God shall make His Son of the King of life in the Way of the Cross, I believe. The way of the cross we trod. This we do now, as I am her God. The way of the cross we trod. I will lead you on in the bloodstained away, the path that the Saviour trod. If I ever find him in the heights of blood, where the soul is The way of the cross seems long. The way of the cross seems long. It is strange to know that I love her not. The way of the cross seems long. And with their will, with the way of the Word, To love Him it never was. For my Lord says, Come, let us seek my hope, Where He waits at the open door. Thank you and may we be seated. I want us to go to the Old Testament again for our text today. Turn with me to Genesis, the 22nd chapter. We'll read the first 14 verses. The Old Testament is the illustrated New Testament, as someone has said. And you want to find an illustration to set forth the truth in God's Word, then you'll find that illustration somewhere in the Old Testament. you can't really understand the New Testament until you have a basis of the Old Testament. So much of the New Testament is written in reference to the types and shadows and illustrations that are given to us in the Old Testament. So let's begin reading then at that first verse of the 22nd chapter of Genesis. And it came to pass after these things that God did test or tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, behold, 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 therefore a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. 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 cut the wood, or claved the wood, for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off. And Abraham said unto his young men, abide ye here with the ash, 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 took the knife in his hand, the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went both of them together. And Isaac spoke 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 the burnt offering? And Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a 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 on 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 a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 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. Now, this is an interesting story. And we want to emphasize some of the main points of the story this morning. Well, let's go back a little bit further than the story that we have just read and trace somewhat Abraham's history since God began dealing with him back in Ur of the Chaldees. We find in Genesis the 12th chapter, the first three verses, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee. And in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed. The Lord further promised him in Genesis 12, beginning with the 14th verse. Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art, northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward. For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever. And I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, so that if a man can number the dust of the earth, then shall thy seed also be numbered. God once again confirmed his promise to Abraham in that 15th chapter of Genesis, the first six verses. After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and the steward or heir of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus? And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine heir. That was according to the law. And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, that is Eliezer of Damascus, this shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth and said, look now toward heaven and tell or number the stars, count the stars if thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall thy seed be. and he believed in the Lord and he counted it to him for righteousness. Now, this is three times that the Lord has definitely told Abram that he was going to be the father of a mighty host of descendants. There are other times beside this, but we won't go through and enumerate all of them. But there's one more I'd like for us to notice. When Abram was 99 years old, Sarah, his wife, being 90 years old, God appeared unto him and said, Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son indeed and thou shall call his name Isaac and I will establish my covenant with him you notice this time that God calls the name of the heir Isaac and in him will I establish my covenant for an everlasting covenant and with his seed after him and And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. 12 princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But my covenant, listen, my covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. That's found in Genesis the 17th chapter, the 19th through the 21st verses. Now I read you these promises that God made to Abraham concerning the promised seed and his generation after him, which would be as the dust of the earth for multitude and as the stars of heaven for multitude. And especially we notice how that God called the name of the heir Isaac, even calling him by name. Now it was this son, this promised heir, that God told Abraham to take up there on Mount Moriah and slay. You remember the promise? Now God has promised that Abraham was going to have a mighty seed, was going to be the father of many nations, and that in Isaac, that son Isaac that was given to him as a, you might say, as a miracle, that son was going to be the promised heir. And now God tells Abraham to take his son Isaac upon the Mount Moriah and offer him as a sacrifice. But now the question comes, how was God going to make a great nation out of Abraham through Isaac if he was to obey God's command and slay his son? Was God to raise him up from the dead? Was there such a thing possible that God could raise him up from the dead? Abraham believed that he could and that he would for Hebrews 11 17 through 19 tells us by faith Abraham When he was tried offered up Isaac and he that had received the promises Offered up his only begotten son of whom it is said in Isaac shall thy seed be called and accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead from which also he received him in a figure. Now God told Abraham to do something that as far as the flesh is concerned seemed impossible but yet nothing is impossible with God. I don't imagine Abraham had very much sleep that night But sometime between the time that God told him to take Isaac and slay him, sometime between then and the next morning, Abraham got the victory. And so the scripture tells us he rose up early in the morning. He rose up early the next morning. I like that word early. It indicates vigilance. It indicates that he was ready to do God's will. He had already fought out the battle. as far as his own personal feeling toward his son Isaac was concerned, and have won the victory. One characteristic of the burnt offering is that it is a voluntary offering according to Leviticus 1.3. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. Abraham had been made willing in the day of God's power. He was willing now to give his son, to slay his son that God had commanded him to, because God told him to do it. Now that word early indicates diligence. He had a job to do. Then he wanted to get about it early, get it done and finished with. You know, I like to see someone that is diligent, especially in the salvation of his soul, diligently seeking the Lord. In Proverbs 8 chapter and the 17th verse, we find these words, I love those that love me and those that seek me early or diligently shall find me. Those that seek me early or seek me diligently shall find me. Now Abraham made preparation for the trip the next day, and there were three things that he gathered together in preparation for that trip. First of all, there was the wood for the burnt offering. The scripture says, and he claimed the wood for the burnt offering. And he took the fire in his hand, secondly. And the third was the knife. There were three things, now the wood for the offering, the fire in his hand, and the knife. Let's notice the way those items were carried. the wood was placed upon Isaac, a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing his cross to Calvary. The fire and the knife were carried by Abraham. Both fire and the knife are typical of judgment. For it was the knife that was to slay the Son, and the fire that was to consume both the sacrifice, the wood and the sacrifice. So the scripture says they went on together But now there was one item that was missing and Isaac was quick to catch it. They were going to make a burnt offering But where was the animal for the sacrifice? And so Isaac noticed it and said to Abraham behold the fire and the wood But where is the lamb for a burnt offering? No doubt Isaac had been with his father many times as he made an offering unto the Lord. He knew that God required a blood redemption, a blood sacrifice, and he wondered where he was going to find the animal to make the sacrifice. He had been taught by his father that he was a sinner, that the wages of sin is death. And he had no doubt, as a natural inquisitive boy would do, ask his father many things about the sacrifice. and about why the blood was offered. And his father had explained to him that without remission of sin, there was no forgiveness. And so he inquired then of his father, where is the lamb for the burnt offering? I want you to notice Abraham's answer to that question. My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering. Now that was confidence, that was faith. My son, God will provide himself a lamb for the one offering. Now, if you had asked Abraham how God was going to provide a lamb, he couldn't have told you because he didn't know himself. He didn't know how God was going to do it, but he believed God would because God was not going to go back on his promise. God could not and would not violate his promise. He believed God. and was persuaded that somehow, through some method not yet revealed to him, God would keep his covenant with the promised seed, about the promised seed, even though it meant the death and resurrection of his son Isaac. Now he was not called upon to understand what God was going to do. He did not have to understand what God was going to do, all he had to do was to obey God and trust him to work it out for his good. That scripture Brother AJ used last Wednesday night, Romans 8, 28, all things work together for good to them who love the Lord, to them who are called according to his purpose, really held true here. His obligation to God was to obey him and to trust him and leave the working out of the problem in God's hand. The 8th verse of that 22nd chapter tells us that after this above conversation, they went both of them together. Abraham's answer seemed to satisfy Isaac, for he doesn't question him anymore. They went along together. I don't know just when Abraham told Isaac that he himself was going to be the offering. It could have been while he was building the altar. It could have been while he was laying the wood in order. But at any rate, sometime or another during that hour, he must have sat down and told Isaac the whole story of what God had commanded him to do. How that God had called him, I imagine he just went back and told him his history of how God saved him, how God dealt with him when he called him over that Ur of the Chaldees. You know, as Paul, whenever somebody got him in a jam, he'd tell how God saved him. Now imagine Abraham sat down and told his son how the Lord dealt with him, how the Lord saved him. And then how the Lord had appeared to him and told him to take his son and offer him as a offering, as a burnt offering unto the Lord. Now, I don't find it anywhere intimated in God's Word that Isaac had any complaints to make about this arrangement. I don't have any idea that he held back or he resisted at all when Abraham told him that he was going to be the sacrifice. Because Isaac trusted the Lord too. Isaac not only committed his body into his father's hand to offer him as a burnt offering, but he also submitted his soul unto God and looked to Him to work everything out for God's own glory. Now in this we see that Isaac again is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, who was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before a shearer's is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. In Isaiah 53, 7. Again in John 19, 9, as Jesus stood before Pilate, and Jesus gave him no answer, He didn't answer back at Pilate, but he gave him no answer at all. Again in Isaiah the 50th chapter, the fifth and the sixth verses, the Lord God hath opened my ear and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back. I gave my back to the smiters and my cheek to them that plucked off the hair. I hid not my face from shame and spitting. The Lord Jesus Christ submitted himself willingly under God's will for him. So then here we have Abraham offering his son and heir willingly in obedience to God's command. If there was the least bit of rebellion in his heart or holding back from following God's commandment, it was all fought out behind the scenes and we're not told anything about it in Holy Writ. We have, on the other hand, Isaac willingly giving himself up to be that burnt offering. Now, if Isaac had any rebellion in his heart, or if there was any holding back in his heart, or it wasn't manifested openly, in Abraham's mind, Isaac died. In Isaac's mind, he died also. He gave himself up to die. Isaac did not expect to get up off of that altar and come back down the mountain with his father Abraham. He expected to die right there. But he had put his trust in his father's God, the God of Abraham. What does Hebrews 11 say? We read it a while ago. Accounting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead, from which also he received him in a figure. Salvation is a death and a resurrection. Salvation is a dying to yourself. It is a dying to your plans, to your program. As Brother Sheldon used to say, it's tearing up your blueprint. Submitting yourselves completely under the hands of God to do with you as He will. Let's notice Romans 6, 4 and 5. Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death. That as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. Baptism is a picture of the death, burial, and resurrection of a sinner as that sinner dies under sin, is buried, and is risen again, comes up out of the water, a picture of salvation. In salvation you die to everything that you hold dear. You die to yourself, you die to your loved ones, you die to the world, you die to your ambitions and your hopes, In fact, you become a new creature or a new creation, according to 2 Corinthians 5, 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature or a new creation. Behold, all things are become new. Christ one day was walking and talking with the Pharisees, and they accused him of not being the Messiah, but being an imposter. And he plainly called them children of the devil. There in the 44th verse of the 8th chapter of John, saying, You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do. Now in that same conversation on down at the 56th verse, he said to them, Your father Abraham saw my day, saw the day of Jesus Christ. Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and be glad. Now when did Abraham see the day of the Lord? He saw the day of the Lord there on Mount Moriah when he went out and took this ram and offered it in the stead or in the place of his son. Now Isaac in his own mind died as I said a while ago and was resurrected from the dead. For in submitting himself to be the burnt offering, he did not expect to leave that place of offering alive. He knew the promises concerning himself being the heir, and he knew that he was going to be the heir of a great nation. He didn't understand it properly, whether or not he knew, or whether or not he believed that he was going to be resurrected from the dead, I don't know. But he believed that God was going to do what he promised, even though he had to raise him up from the dead. He never questioned God's promise. He never questioned what God would do, what he said he would do. He believed in the God of the resurrection. He saw not only the promises, but he saw the God of the promises. Now the scripture doesn't talk very much about the faith of Isaac. In fact, there's not very much written about the life of Isaac. except as it has to do with Abraham and his talk of facts of Jacob, his son, through whom the line of the Messiah came. But I'm sure that his faith was just as genuine as Abraham's. Salvation is not a matter of how much faith or of what type of faith. Salvation is looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith according to Hebrews 12-2. Salvation is looking unto Christ the author or the beginner of our faith and the finisher or the perfecter of our faith. You know every awakened soul, every sinner is dead in sins and trespasses and as an awakened soul he comes to realize it The biggest thing that a sinner needs is eternal life. If you could grant yourself life, then you could do everything else that is said to have to do with salvation. But the sinner is dead, and God must make the first step. God takes the initiative in salvation. Paul tells us in 2 Timothy 1.12, Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed. He didn't say, I know what I have believed. I don't know a creed of doctrine, but I know whom I have believed. And I'm persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. Salvation is knowing Christ. Isaac met Christ that day, there on the mountain, as he committed himself unto him. When he saw the ram, a type of the strong one, mighty to deliver, provided by God himself take his place. And the ram was offered there on the same altar that Isaac was laying on just a few minutes before. He saw that ram take his place as he is released and the ram is put on the altar and sacrificed there in his place. But now let's go back to our story. We're about to get ahead of it there. We left Isaac bound, lying upon the wood which had been laid in order upon the altar that Abraham had built with his own hands. Now was the crucial moment. Look at that 10th verse. And Abraham stretched forth his hand and took the knife to slay his son. Abraham was going to follow through God's command. He wasn't going to hold back, but he was going to follow through. But oh, how his father's heart must have ached as he held that knife over his son, read to plunge it into his bosom. But listen, 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. God says, I knew all the time, God knew all the time that Abraham was going to obey him. God knew all the time that he was going to spare Isaac and sacrifice this ram in the place of the son, but he tested Abraham's faith, the faith that God had given him. It wasn't so much Abraham's faith, it was God's faith that he had given him. But just at the right moment, not a minute too soon and not a minute too late, the angel spoke, says, stay your hand, don't slay your son. That was a deliverance. That was a deliverance for Isaac and a release of Abraham from the commandment that God had commanded him to do. God accepted the willingness for the deed. Now let's notice the next verse, that 13th verse. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horn. Here truly God had provided himself an offering. As I said before, the ram instead of the lamb is typical of the strong one, mighty to deliver. Abraham didn't have to go out there and run it down and catch it. Abraham didn't have to take his instruments of hunting, whatever he used, and go out there and kill this ram. It was already there. It was caught by the horns there in the thicket. It was already provided for a special need. You know, somehow or another, I believe the ram had been there all the time, but Abraham and Isaac just didn't see it. They only saw it when there came a dire need for it. When Abraham's son was spared with a grateful heart, Abraham began to look around for some way to seek to praise God. The scripture says, and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, that was just not a casual gaze, but Abraham lifted his eyes up and looked. He was searching, he was hunting, he was searching for some animal that he could offer as a sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving unto God. He looked around and he saw this ram caught by the horns. That was God's providing, God's provision for Abraham. And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-Jireh, which translated means the Lord or Jehovah will provide. Did God provide? Yes, He provided. He provided abundantly. He provided that ram. He provided that thicket. He caused that ram to be caught in that thicket. You say, well, those things might've happened by accident. No, there are no accidents as far as God is concerned. He prepared that particular thicket at the precise time that it was needed. He turned Abraham's eyes toward that particular bush and let him see that ram caught by the horns. Now, did he provide that ram for Abraham's sake primarily? Or for Isaac's sake? No, but for his own sake. You notice that one word there, God will provide himself a lamb for the offering. God will provide himself a lamb for the offering. God provided himself a ram for the sacrifice and he got all the glory out of it. And Abraham was glad that God had all the glory. As our late pastor used to say, if anybody gets any glory out of your salvation, then you're not saved. God does not save a sinner primarily for that sinner's sake, but for his own glory, for his own gracious glory and the praising of the grace of our Lord. Let's notice Isaiah 48, nine through 11. For my name's sake will I defer mine anger, and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. For mine own sake, even for mine own sake will I do it. For how shall my name be polluted, and I will not give my glory unto another. Listen again to Ezekiel 36, 22. Thus saith the Lord God, I do this not for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for my holy name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whether ye went. And then Ezekiel 36, 32. Again, not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. God does not save us so primarily for that soul's sake but for God's glory John 15 16 tells us you have not chosen me He speaks out to every individual every one of his elect so you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and Ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain and then in 2nd Thessalonians 2 13 and 14 and God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. I'm glad it is so. I'm glad that God does get all the glory. God gets all the glory and all the honor out of the salvation of a sinner. Now, we have illustrated substitution. Let's look at the scripture and see how God sets forth a substitution in his word. Turn with me to the Galatians, the third chapter. You're turning your Bibles out of the Galatians, the third chapter. We begin reading at the sixth verse. Galatians 3, 6. even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they who are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham. And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen, or the Gentiles, through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. You know, that's a peculiar expression there. God preached the gospel to Abraham. What is that gospel? What is the gospel that God preached to Abraham? Who does he refer to when he said, in thee shall all the nations be blessed? Did God mean merely that in Abraham personally, all the nations were to be blessed? No, Abraham was a sinner. He could not even bless himself, let alone anyone else. Did he mean through Isaac? Of whom it is said, in Isaac shall thy seed be called? Again, the answer is no. For Isaac also was a sinner by nature and by practice. The story we have just discussed shows us that the gospel that God preached to Abraham was the substitutionary death of Christ on the cross of Calvary. That's the gospel. Paul tells us what the gospel is in 1 Corinthians 15, 1-5. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scripture, and that he was buried, and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures, and that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. The gospel that God preached to Abraham is the same gospel that Paul preaches, the same gospel that we preach today. Christ died, Christ buried, Christ risen again from the dead. Abraham saw Christ in the ram caught by the horns in the thickets, which he took and offered in a stead of his son. Now let's continue in that thread of Galatians. So then they who are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, Cursed is everyone that continueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. Let me ask you one question. Have you continued in all things that are written in God's word? Have you never deviated one moment from God's Word, from the commandments and the laws written in God's Word? I need not answer because your own conscience cries out, no, that you have not kept them. You're a sinner, therefore you're under the curse of God. But now let's notice that 13th verse. And how this blesses my heart. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. How? Being made a curse for us as your substitution. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. As it is written, cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. The Roman government, the Roman soldiers didn't realize what they were doing when they hung Christ on that cross. They didn't realize that they were fulfilling scriptures. The Jews did not realize that they were fulfilling God's purpose when they condemned Christ to death. But the scripture says, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a tree. When the Lord Jesus Christ was nailed to that cross of Calvary, he became accursed. He became accursed for me who should have hung on that cross. That should have been Jack Messer hanging on the cross that day. But the Lord Jesus Christ hung there in my place. How my heart praises Him and thanks Him for His gracious mercy and love and that's my hope for eternity. That's my hope that Christ died and He died for me. Where I hung a doomed, damned, helpless soul one day by God's grace and this is where I stand anew for Christ took my place on the cross of Calvary Christ died for me. Christ became my substitute. Christ gave himself for me, put himself in my place that I might not die. There was an old charl woman one day was giving her testimony and testimony meeting. And she says, I'm not as good as I want to be. And I'm not as good as I will be someday. But thank God I'm not as bad as I once was. And so we can say the same thing. There is a day coming that we're going to have our new body. We're going to be completely cleansed from all the touches of sin. What a glorious day that will be. We'll be able to part company with repentance. We'll part company with our sins. We'll part company with our propensity to sin. As Dwight F. Moody, I think it was, said on the day of his death, this is my coronation day. Now again, let's turn to 2 Corinthians 5, 18 through 21. You want to turn to it in your Bible, I have it down here in my notes, and I'll just read it from there. And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and given unto us the ministry of reconciliation. to wit that God was in Christ. God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing that trespasses unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. And notice that next verse. For he hath made him to be sin who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. For he hath made him who knew no sin to be sin for us. There again, it's just substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ was holy. without sin, without stain. He was completely holy, completely righteous. God made him to become sin for me. God made him to become sin for me, he who knew no sin. He who could not look upon sin without punishing it. He was made sin for me that I might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, you think I have anything to boast about? No. No individual has anything to boast about. Would you boast about someone being put to death in your place? I can praise the Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ and for what he did for me, but there is no boasting on my part. Now, when was Christ, the sinless one, made to become sin for me, that Calvary? that Calvary Christ was made sin, and as the very essence of sin, he was punished, he suffered all the punishment that all of God's elect should have suffered. I think it was there in the Garden of Gethsemane that God began to lay upon Christ the sin of his elect. As he went apart from the disciples and prayed, and his sweat became as drops of blood. I think it was there that he began to realize that he was being made sin. He who hated sin, he who abhorred sin was being made sin in the place of his elect. Certainly it was there on Calvary's cross that he gave himself for my sins. It was there that he became obedient unto death even the death of the cross. There on the cross of Calvary, as he was lifted up, he told us, and I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. It was there on the cross of Calvary that God laid on him the iniquity of us all. Saint does not make your heart want to cry out with joy, hallelujah. Praise to God in the highest for having saved such a wicked, rebellious sinner as I. My poor sinner friend does not make you want to know that Christ, to know that He died in your place, to know that He died as your scapegoat, as he died as your burnt offering, that he died as your lamb, that he died as your sacrifice. Maybe you're crying out as Job did, Oh that I knew where I might find him. Do you know where you can find him? You'll find him at the cross. You'll find him at the place of death. When you die, then God can resurrect you from the dead. You know what my cry for weeks before God saved me was, Lord, slay me. Did you ever ask God to kill you? Did you ever ask God to slay you, to put you to death? When you come to see that that's the only way of salvation, that you must be put to death, then you'll begin to cry unto God to slay you. Lord, slay me to all of my selfish interests. Lord, slay me to all of my selfish desires. slay me unto myself, put me to death, that I may come to know the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I was like Paul there in Philippians 3, 8-11 when he said, Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ. and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, that I may know Christ, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death. if by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead. You know, I praise God that one day He slew me, brought me down to the place of death, brought me down to the place that I wanted Him above everything else. Everything else faded out of existence, as it were, and there was only one desire in my heart, Lord, show me Thyself. Lord, reveal Thyself to me. Lord, make me Thine. I want to be that child. I want to belong to Thee completely, wholly, soul and body. We're glad you have tuned in and worshipped with us today. Let us remind you of our regular services each week. We have the Voice of Truth broadcast every Sunday morning at 7 to 8. Tune in and hear our late pastor, L.R. Sheldon, bring us another message from God's Word. Then at 10 o'clock, here our pastor H.G. Gayle teaches the Bible School of the Air. And then at 11 o'clock, the regular worship hour, again by Brother Gayle. If you're not availing yourselves of these messages, then you're missing a blessing. Remember all these hours and continue to worship with us here at the First Baptist Church, Algiers. We'd like to hear from you. If these messages have blessed your heart, sit down and write us and let us know about it. Our post office box is 6250 New Orleans, Louisiana, 70174. Let me give you that address again. H-G-G-O-G-U-E-H-O, post office box 6250 New Orleans, Louisiana, 70174. May our Lord bless you, everyone.