let's turn over tonight in comparison with genesis chapter 22 john chapter 19 john chapter 19 let's give our attention to the word of the lord we'll read a portion here of john 19 which is the crucifixion of christ then pilate took jesus and flogged him and the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe they came up to him saying, Hail, king of the Jews, and struck him with their hands. Pilate went out again and said to them, See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him. So Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said to them, Behold the man. When the chief priests and the officers saw him, they cried out, Crucify him! Crucify him! Pilate said to them, Take him yourselves and crucify him, for I find no guilt in him. The Jews answered him, We have a law, and according to that law, he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God. When Pilate heard that statement, he was even more afraid. He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, Where are you from? Jesus gave him no answer. So Pilate said to him, Will you not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you? Jesus answered him, you would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given to you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin. From then on, Pilate sought to release him. But the Jews cried out, if you release this man, you are not Caesar's friend. Everyone who makes himself a king opposes Caesar. So when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, sat down on the judgment seat at the place called the stone pavement and in Aramaic, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation of the Passover. It was about the sixth hour. He said to the Jews, behold, your king. They cried out, away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate said to them, shall I crucify your king? The chief priest answered, we have no king but Caesar. So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus and he went out, bearing his own cross to the place called the place of the skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him and with him two others, one on either side and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Many of the Jews read this inscription. For the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests and the Jews said to Pilate, Do not write the king of the Jews, but rather this man said, I am king of the Jews. Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written. When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments, divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier, also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom. So they said to one another, let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be. This was to fulfill the scripture, which says, they divided my garments among them and for my clothing they cast lots. So the soldiers did these things. But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary, the wife of Clopas and Mary Magdalene. And when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby he said to his mother woman behold your son then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour the disciple took her to his own home after this jesus knowing that all was now finished said to fulfill the scripture i thirst a jar of sour wine stood there so they put a sponge full of the sour wine on a hyssop branch and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, it is finished. And he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. May the Lord bless tonight the hearing of his word. As we read these two passages tonight, we're going to be taking them together. We'll be looking first at Genesis. But did you notice here how much attention is given in the scriptures to the great truth of the death of God's Son. How great to tell us the Father's love is for us. It's a wonderful truth that is given to us all over the pages of Scripture. How great the Father's love that He would give His Son to die for us. Every godly saint knows and every Christian who's believed this truth throughout the course of his life will tell you this is the story of the Christian life this is what it's about this is where power lies this is where encouragement lies this is where our strength our assurance our deliverance forgiveness joy peace all of it culminating and summed up here in this grand story of redemption that is told all over the pages of Scripture. And tonight we come together to think about this, to think about this because the reality is is that our understandings of this, even though we confess it, we believe it, they really are rather shallow. They're shallow. And I want to open up this tonight and I want to look at this in a little bit of detail coming to the table tonight considering the depth of the sacrifice that was made for us to be here tonight and to enjoy this. I mean, there's a reason the Supper is called a celebration. Yes, we come broken and contrite because of sin, but the Lord is lifting up our hearts. The Lord is encouraging us and assuring us of His love and forgiveness. And so tonight, I want us to see that this is the central story of Scripture. This is what the Lord cared a whole lot about, or we'll consider Sunday at the resurrection to make sure his disciples understood this because that was their mission to tell it. And I want tonight to look at Genesis 22 and see how this story was already told so long ago so that when we come to John 19, we see the fulfillment of everything the Old Testament, the law, the prophets, the Psalms were telling us. In Genesis 22, what an amazing text tonight to consider in light of John 19. Genesis 22, Abraham is facing the test of his life. Notice, and I'd ask you if your Bibles aren't open, keep them open tonight. And let's start at Genesis 22. And I want you to see a few things that are put in the text that are just hollering at us to look to see in fulfillment as we live in the time of fulfillment, John 19. In verse 1 of Genesis 22, it's the great test. God said to Abraham, Abraham, God tested Abraham, said Abraham. Abraham says, here I am. Then he said, take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. Now, we have the advantage of standing back and reading this tonight that it was a test. But Father Abraham didn't understand that. He didn't know it was a test. Abraham, I want you to take your son. Notice the language here of how this is said over and over and over. Your son, your only son whom you love, And I want you to give him up as a burnt offering for me. What in the world is that? What in the world is that? We're amazed at what the Lord was asking Abraham to do. In fact, every secular critic of Scripture will look at that and say, you know, give me a break. Look what God was suggesting there. Look what this God was doing. And we say, yeah, let's do that. This is an amazing account. It was the supreme test of commitment. The Lord utterly tested him to the limit. It's radical. It's unthinkable, isn't it? I want you to sacrifice your only son, Isaac, the son of promise. That's why he keeps saying the only son. This was the son of promise. Unbearable. It was a test on the closest level, wasn't it? I mean, this is the most intimate love that we have before us. This is a love that a father has for his son. It's unspeakable. It's beautiful. It's a bond. It was a test of loyalty, calling Abraham to love the Lord and remain obedient and give full allegiance to him over the greatest human relationship and affection that we know on earth think about it you can hardly describe the bonds that a father loves his children with it's unspeakable think about it tonight feel it you love your children you love them So what was this like, just for a moment, for Father Abraham? He's torn between two things, isn't he? He's torn between two really important things. The divine promise that said, this is the son of whom the seed will come, through him. And yet, all is before him is a command, sacrifice him. Kill him. So wrestling with promise and reality, we know, again, how Abraham reasoned in his mind, don't we? We know from Hebrews 11 that Abraham had concluded, by faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. And he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, in Isaac your seed shall be called. Concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense. That's what he concluded. He said, okay, this is the son of promise. God is asking me to take him out. I've concluded that God will raise him if I do this. He trusted. And so, what we have in verse 3 is that Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled up his donkey, and he rode with two men. And he takes his young son Isaac, and he splits wood the wood for the burnt offering and he arose and he went to this place that God had told him this place that God had told him a few things really stand out here the immediate response is Abraham arose he went early I want you to think for a minute about splitting the wood with which you're going to sacrifice your son think about it you're gonna set your son on fire it's what you're called to do who would do that who would do it father what do you think the moms would do you're gonna do what would we do it i mean would we really do this put in front of us and i think that's the very thing the text in Genesis 22 is making us feel. It's uncomfortable. What would we do in this position? The reality is, I don't think we would do it. That's the reality. Would you put your son there? Is Abraham an example for us or really is he telling us another story? That's a really important question tonight. We should be looking at this test and thinking, this is an amazing test, a test I don't think I could stand up to. What happens? Verse 4, Genesis 22. The third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes, and he sees the place afar off. And Abraham says to the young men, stay here with me, the donkey. The boy and I will go yonder and worship. Father, says Isaac. Yes, son, here I am. There's fire and there's wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham says, God will provide. He takes the wood, Isaac carries it, makes the fire in his hand. They go together and they arrive at Moriah. We read that Abraham builds this altar there. He places the wood in order, and then he does the unthinkable. He takes his son, and he lays him on the altar. He lays him right up upon the wood. Now, this is the son of promise. He there stands on a mountain. The son is on the altar, on the wood. I'm thinking he's overwhelmed with grief. overwhelmed with grief verse 10 says that abraham stretched out his hand and he took the knife to slay his son you know what went on when they sacrificed i'm going to be a little bit graphic here for a minute and you're going to see why you know what he would have had to do he would have had to cut open isaac's throat and then he would have had to dismember Isaac. This is how they did the sacrifices that would be spread out over the altar and then it would all be consumed by fire. This was his son. How do you feel? Imagine the horror. Feel the pain of that fill in the lines takes the knife raises it up and in verse 11 we read something overwhelming the angel of the lord stops him the angel of the lord called to him from heaven and said abraham abraham and he said here i am he said do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now i know that you fear god seeing that you have not listen to language withheld your son your only son from me and abraham lifted up his eyes and he looked and behold behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and abraham went and he took the ram and he offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. The angel of the Lord speaks. He sees the ram. He takes down his son and there instead of his son, the ram is placed and the sacrifice occurs. Now I want to retell this story. That's the initial first glance of the story. I want to retell this story in light of another story. And I want you to see how the scriptures are weaving these two things together, showing us the fulfillment of this story when we see that what all of this is pointing to and what is fulfilled. The Jews, unbelieving Jews, were testing Jesus one day and he said something that must have stunned them. Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad. What day? Let's put this together tonight a bit. If you back back up to verse 2, take your son, your only son whom you love, and go where? To the land of Moriah. That day, Moriah was desolate. You know where Moriah was? 2 Chronicles tells us that this was the very spot that Solomon built the temple. Mount Moriah. Later, Mount Zion. This is the place where the temple would be built. And there Golgotha would be. Abraham takes a donkey. And he travels on the donkey. Notice he placed his son on the donkey. And they ride, the son riding on the donkey to Mount Moriah. And then in verse 6, the wood for the burnt offering is laid upon his back. Notice that. And Abraham takes fire and a knife and they head up on to Mount Moriah alone. Where are you taken? You're taken to Palm Sunday, aren't you? When Jesus descends down the Mount of Olives and he says, grab me a donkey. And you'll notice that the disciples set him on the donkey. And as he travels toward the holy hill, remember what happened as that horrid hour came upon him a massive piece of wood was laid on his back wasn't it massive piece of wood a cross and he travels up mount moriah carrying it carrying the weight of it in verse 7 isaac speaks to abraham look the fire in the wood but where's the lamb abraham said my son god will provide the lamb for the burnt offering isaac says nothing christ rides on the donkey all the way up he bears the wood on his back he was oppressed and afflicted and he opened not his mouth he was a lamb to the slaughter as a sheep before it sears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. He travels up. He travels up. He goes to the spot there. Verse 9 in Genesis 22, they came to the place of which God had spoken. Did you notice that in verse 9? The place that God had spoke in Genesis chapter 22. It's a remarkable statement. The text is setting us up to think a whole lot about just where is this. Notice verse 9 and 10. When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound his son Isaac and laid him up right on the altar on top of the wood. This is exactly what happened that day. Abraham raised the knife. The angel of the Lord, who is Christ, met him that day and said, Abraham, I know you fear me. Take down your son. And there the ram, in an act of substitution, was placed on the place instead of Abraham's son. Now Abraham didn't have to face that with his son. God did not put him through that, and God never required, think about this tonight, this is why we gather, this is why there's great joy in being here tonight. God never is going to require that we have to pay for our sins. instead full and complete sacrificial atonement and the lamb substitution has been made and this is why the scriptures are announcing behold the lamb of god who takes away the sin of the world what did the father have to do to his son though christ was taken outside of the city to this place and we read in john 19 that he's carrying the wood and full of dehydration and bleeding he has to go about a half a mile carrying that wood as he gets to the gate his physical capacities are utterly exhausted he stumbles and he falls to the point of total exhaustion the soldiers call simon of cyrene to carry the cross he goes then to the place of the dead, the place of the skull, Golgotha, telling us that Genesis 3 is about to be fulfilled where the head would be crushed of the serpent. He is brought there, and we read they crucified him. The soldiers take him. They push him back against the wood. They drive thick nails right through his wrists and into the wood. his left foot they push backwards against the right foot facing downward they nail him there there's some flexibility so that he can breathe for a while there in the most excruciating pain he suffers for hours and dies you have to raise yourself up to get air but the point here is he was nailed to that wood an outcast crucified next to common criminals the mockery goes on they've stripped his garments thus fulfilling psalm 22 this is the king of the jews rise the sign everyone's mad that's not our king take it down say that he said he's the king he's not our king they crucify him in that kind of shame on that good friday from noon to three darkness comes over the face of the earth there's no natural way to explain the phenomenon it wasn't really an eclipse of the sun the light just went out you know what happened the unimaginable you see why i wanted you to think about the whole feeling of abraham having to sacrifice his son at the end of all of this we know from the gospels that jesus cries out my god my god why have you forsaken me the horror he has to face is alone the answer right then and there the awful horror of the full and intense wrath of god falling not just on his body but on his soul every single sin that you commit thought word and deed past present and future every careless sin every little idle word every little piece of gossip he's thinking about and bearing the weight of God's wrath God splitting open his son think about that wrath being poured upon him equivalent words of a hell for eternity to face this punishment he is alone in total blackness and darkness god took fire and a knife and split his son for you that's what he did to release the fury of his wrath there so that you would be taken off that's the message that's what we call good friday so that when he would say i thirst you would know that every bit of the wrath of god he was facing as the fire hit him in his soul he is the passover lamb by which whose blood we escape and the very thing that abraham was kept from the horror of splitting open his own son god there wanted to announce to you tonight that instead of doing that to you and to your children he did that to his only beloved son abraham believed that if the son died he god would do what raise him up and that's what happened after facing that wrath we're going to celebrate in a few days that he is risen indeed and what does that declare your justification before god is absolutely certain that's the beauty that's what this message is that's why we gather tonight that's what we do god put his son through this god is announcing this all over the pages of scripture and you see why i said we're so dull and shallow to it it's all over the place this is what drives your whole life this is what he did that you might be here tonight and all of this misery and all of this sorrow and have true and lasting peace in his gospel god did that and now you kind of understand why romans 8 when we get there would say he who did not spare his own son but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him freely give us all things who shall bring a charge against god's elect it's god who justifies who is he who condemns it's christ who died and furthermore is also risen who is even at the right hand of god who also makes intercession for us who shall separate us from the love of christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for your sake we are killed all day long we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us for i am persuaded that neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of god which is in christ jesus our lord that's what the christian gospel announces and the lord says to all who believe tonight in the son to all who trusted in him you can live in that assurance that your sins are covered to those who do not you have a fearful expectation of fiery judgment because you have no covering you have no sacrifice made on your behalf and that's why we say in the day of salvation come to christ believe in him and you then will know what it means as we gather together tonight and for us we can say it was good friday amen