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Read this evening in the book of Genesis and chapter twenty two. Book of Genesis and chapter twenty two. And it came to pass after these things that God did prove Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son, whom thou lovest, even Isaac, 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. Verse nine. And they came to the place which God had told him of, and Abraham built the 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. The angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him. For now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 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 provided. The angel of the Lord called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, I myself have I sworn, saith the Lord, because thou hast done this thing and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore. And thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemy. And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because thou hast obeyed my voice. So Abram returned unto his young men, and they rose up and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham dwelt at Beersheba. Then we shall read two New Testament passages that are an inspired comment upon this story. The first of them is found in the Epistle to the Hebrews and chapter six. Hebrews chapter six and verse thirteen: For when God made promise to Abraham, since he could swear by none greater, he swear by himself, saying, surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And thus, having patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men swear by the greater, and in every dispute of theirs, the oath is final for confirmation. Wherein God, being minded to show more abundantly unto the heirs of the promise the immutability of his counsel, interposed with an oath, that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to die, we may have a strong encouragement who have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us, which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast, and entering into that which is within the veil, whither as a forerunner Jesus entered for us, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And the second New Testament passage is in the epistle by James and chapter two. James chapter two and verse fourteen. What doth it profit, my brethren, if a man say he has faith but have not works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked and in lack of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, and yet he give them not the things needful to the body, what does it profit? Even so, faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Yea, a man will say, Thou hast faith, and I have works. Show me thy faith apart from thy works, and I, by my works, will show thee my faith. Thou believest that God is one, thou doest well. The demons also believe and shudder. But wilt thou know, O vain men, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not Abram our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son upon the altar? Thou seest that faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, and Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. Ye see that by works a man is justified, and not only by faith. And God give us true understanding of his word. Tonight we move on to consider the third great period in Abraham's personal pilgrimage. We have not said all that ought to be said or could be said on the second great period of his life, but as you see, we are falling desperately behind hand in our program, and for time's sake, we must move on as rapidly as may be. It will help us, nevertheless, if just for a moment we look back over the first two periods again to remind ourselves what they were about and to see how period three follows on the earlier two periods. In the first period of his own personal pilgrimage after the death of his father, Abraham learned that tremendous and basic lesson that a man is justified by faith without the works of the law. There's Genesis fifteen: Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. That was the basic lesson, and therefore it came first. But having learned here how a man is initially justified by faith, in the second great period of his life, Abraham was taught the secret and the necessity of walking before God and being perfect. A lesson which follows naturally, of course, in that position. For every man who has learned how to begin with God must next learn how to carry on with God. And if we begin by being justified by faith, then we carry on by learning to walk before God, daily, hourly, moment by moment, walking before God, that gradually he may perfect us in our character. Now this evening we come to the third lesson, and it too follows logically. If a man has been trained to walk before God, learning to be perfect, then he is presently in the position where God may put him to the test, and that man be justified by his works. The passages of scripture that we have read this evening have fastened on that lesson which was taught Abraham in this third great period of his pilgrimage, when God did prove Abraham and required him to justify his profession of faith by his works. Let us look back just once more again and notice that as Abraham was learning these lessons, he met certain outstanding difficulties. In the first period of his life, he had been early hampered by the tendency to value goods above life itself. But at length he conquered that difficulty and learned to take away his, his, to, to revise his system of values, to see that life is more important than goods. And that therefore, if one is interested in life, if one values life, then one's basic concern must be how one's life can be right with God, how one can enter upon eternal life through relationship with God. And therefore, Abraham had to face these great problems and examinations in regard to his goods, and was eventually led to triumph under the ministry of Melchizedek, the great high priest. Led to triumph in choosing life before material goods. In the second section, we found that Abraham had another difficulty. Here he was to learn how to walk before God and be perfect. But initially, again, he fell into the mistake that all of us fall into from time to time of imagining that he could, by his own power and strength and effort, fulfill the purposes of God. And he had to learn how that the flesh is weak and powerless and stubbornly rebellious, and that how in our own strength we cannot do anything to please God, and that the flesh is no better even when it is trying to please God, than it is when it is going its own wayward path and sinning with a cockroach. And so he had to be taught the great lesson here of circumcision. To abandon faith in the flesh and its power, and to repose his faith in the power of God, in the Spirit of God. That is a lesson that we all have to learn. We learn that we must be justified by faith, get our life in right relationship with God. And then we learn that having been justified by faith, we must walk before God and be perfect. And we too tend from time to time to put our confidence in the flesh and to imagine that the flesh, by its own power and strength, can fulfill the purposes of God. And we learn through much frustration and disappointment that the arm of flesh will save us. We too have to be, uh, pointed to the great lesson of spiritual circumcision. As Saint Paul would put it, we are the circumcision who worship in the spirit of God and have no confidence in the flesh. It's a question of daily learning our bankruptcy, that daily we might be trained to depend upon the Spirit of God within us. Now, when we come to this third lesson, the proving by God that God will sooner or later bring into our lives. The proving that is called justification by works. We shall find that here, Abraham's difficulty and ours too, is our natural craving for security. And of course, there is, in a way, nothing wrong in craving for security. But our temptation is to look for security in the wrong place. And we have to be trained to find our security in God and his word, to learn to put our faith in God's word, even though the whole universe were falling around our ears. And not to trust to man's word and our own devices for our ultimate security. And with that, we come to our major lesson of this particular period of Abram's life, his being justified by works. But then what does it mean? We better find that out first, haven't we? What does it mean to be justified by works? Oh, says somebody, I know what it means. It means that you are justified by faith before God, but you are justified by your works before men. And of course, that is in part true. If it comes to salvation, to receiving forgiveness of sins, to receiving eternal life, to be made right with God, if we're thinking of our relationship with God at that level, then we are justified before God by faith without the deeds of the law. And of course, as believers in God, we have to show the world by our behavior the reality of the salvation that we have. But we, while that is true, we must not content ourselves with that definition, may we? Because while it is quite true that we are justified before God by faith, it is likewise true that we are required to be justified before God by works as well. Men may wish to see our works, but God demands to see our works. He will sooner or later demand that before him we are justified by works. And you will see that in this major example of the principle that we have before us in Genesis twenty two. Was not Abraham, our forefather, says Saint James, justified by works? Well, he was, of course. Genesis twenty two is the record thereof. Was he not justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar before God? Justified by works. And that very, very clearly before God. There were no other men there to see it. Even the servants that had helped with the journey and driven the ass laden with wood had eventually been left way down at the foothills of the mountain, as Abraham had said, stay you here with the ass while I and the young man will go yonder and worship. And when at last it was that a Isaac was bound to that altar, there was left but Abraham and his God. Not even Sarah, his wife, was there to see what he proposed to do. As far as we know, as far as the text tells us, Abraham hadn't even told Sarah, his wife. Solely God there to witness it. Abraham justified by his works before God. And that you will see even more clearly when I remind you of what God said on that particular occasion. When Abraham had bound his son Isaac on the altar and had the knife raised in his hand, about to plunge it in the body of his son. The angel of the Lord called out of heaven and said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, don't do anything to him. For now, for now, I know that thou fearest me. I know it. Seeing that thou hast not held thy son, thine only son, from me. You will observe that the angel of the Lord is none other than God, whom we now call God the Son, the second person of the Trinity. This is not an angel like Gabriel or Michael. This is none less than God himself. Uh, now I know that thou fearest me, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son from me. God it is that is speaking. He says, now I know. But you say, how can that be true? Because God knew all the way along. Doesn't God know everything? Doesn't God know the end from the beginning? Doesn't he know the very thoughts of our hearts? Doesn't he know what we're thinking today and what we will be thinking tomorrow? What sense is it for God to say, now I know that thou fearest me? Didn't he know it before? And why did he need Abraham to offer his son on the altar before he knew it? Didn't he know right well, and couldn't he foresee, seeing he was God, couldn't he foresee that if he asked Abraham to offer his son, Abraham would offer his son? How can God possibly say, now I know? Yes, that's a very good question. And to answer it, we shall need to remember that there are various ways of knowing things. Why, as I stand here on this, uh, platform this evening, I know that it is tremendously cold at the North Pole. I know it, so I read it in a book. That's one way of knowing it. Or seeing it on a film. It's another way of knowing it. But I don't know it because I myself have stood at the North Pole and shivered until my very bones were frozen tight. I don't know it that way around. I know it in my mind and by my intellect. I don't know it by my experience. And you see, God knew what Abraham would do. He knew it by foreknowledge. He didn't yet know it by actual experience. And God demands to know, not been merely by knowledge, foreknowledge, divine omniscience. He demands to know by personal experience of the actual event. So while he knew what Abraham would do when he went up that mountain, he insists that Abraham does it. Because God himself wants to know by personal experience of the event, what it means for Abraham, so to trust him that he would be willing to offer his son. I'm glad God likes that kind of knowledge and insists on it. God could have imagined me even when I wasn't, you know, and did. God foresaw the time when there should be a certain dog's body walking the streets of Belfast. He could foresee it all, knew exactly what I was going to do. I'm jolly well glad he didn't rest content with that kind of knowledge. Perhaps you're not, but I am. Because if he had rested content with that kind of knowledge, I might not actually have been, and it might have remained an imagination in God's heart. But God who foresaw it brought it actually to pass, and an actual dog's body did walk the streets of Belfast. It It is is act- that kind of level of experience that God is, uh, insisting on when he announces that he requires us to be justified by works. But then what, in what sense are we justified? You say we're justified by God, before God by works. Well, how do you make sense of it that, uh, another passage says we're, we're justified before God without works? Little bit confusing, isn't it? So let's put our thinking caps on a bit tighter and set to work again. Justified before God without works by faith. Yes. When it comes to our salvation. When it comes to our forgiveness. When it comes to our redemption, the clearing of guilt, the impartation of eternal life. These things are gifts. We receive them the very moment we trust God. And the faith that trusts God in order to receive these gifts is not itself a work. It is the very opposite of work. It is not a merit. It doesn't deserve the gift. It is simply the bankrupt hand that takes God at his word, and when he offers the gift, says, thank you very much, takes them and receives them. Justification by works is a different thing, isn't it? It is now a question of justifying the profession of faith. Abram believed God. He claimed that he believed God, that he feared God, and all his trust was in God. Very good. But how shall I know if that trust is genuine? Says God, I shall have to have it demonstrated. I shall have to have it proved that when Abram says he trusts me, he really does trust me. And his profession of faith is real. Listen to what the angel of the Lord said when he spoke out of heaven. Now I know that thou... fearest me. Not so much now I know that you're a jolly good fellow, Abraham, and that you never cheat the baker, you always pay the butcher hundred percent, and you never beat your wife, and you're kind to your children. Yes, all those things may be well involved. It is now I know that thou fearest me. Let's work it out a bit further. God said to Abraham initially, Abraham, you're going to have a son. I shall give you a son. It will be by my miraculous power that I give you a son. And Abraham believed God. It was counted to him for righteousness. Said God to Abraham, this son that I give you, Abraham, in thee and in thy seed, shall all the nations of the world be blessed. I want you to know that in giving you Isaac, I am giving you a glorious future, magnificent and wonderful. Do you trust me, Abram? And Abram believed God, so he said. And it was counted to him for righteousness. But the years passed by. The child was born, and the child grew up. Came a day when God said, now Abram, Abram, there's just a matter I want to get clear. This future of yours, just whom are you trusting? Where is your faith, Abram? Where's its state? Where does it repose? For the fulfillment of this future. You say, Abram, don't you, that your faith is solely in me. I expect your faith is in me, isn't it, Abram? It's in me, isn't it? Wouldn't be in Isaac, would it, by any chance? Or would it be part in me and part in Isaac? Or is it in me? And nothing else. Abram, when it came to your eternal salvation, when it came to your justification, Abram, you said, oh yes, I trust God. My faith is in God and solely in God. Well, now what about your future, Abram? Where's your faith now? In me? Only in me? Not in Isaac, is he? Well, anyway, Abram, we can settle that, can't we? Abram, give me Isaac. That posed Abram a tremendous problem, didn't it? Elderly man that he was now. And this is well-beloved son, in whom were all problems, being asked to let him go, demonstrate that his faith is solely in God. That's what it means to be justified by works. By works to provide the evidence that my faith is solely in God and ultimately in none else. I wish to eventually come this evening to see what a great, uh, success Abram made of his examination, how he passed it with flying colors and has become, therefore, an object lesson to us all. But it's a comfort to my craven heart, at least, to realize that once more, as with the earlier lessons, so with this one, Abram didn't pass his finals with flying colors the first day he sat the lesson. But he began this lesson too by making one terrible mistake, and subsequently by faltering and halting and making very erratic progress. And it wasn't until quite some way on in his pilgrimage that he eventually was brought by God to that pitch of courage and faith, where he could demonstrate to all and sundry that his faith was really and solely in God. You see, the thing that haunted Abraham at this stage was this question of security. Chapter 20 that begins the section tells us that in his sojournings he came down amongst the Philistines. When he got among the Philistines, he had one look at those long-headed and solemn folks, the Philistines, and he said, my, these are run boys down here. Cool. The fear of God isn't in this place anywhere. They slit your throat as soon as they look at you, these boys would. What am I going to do? Now I got this very desirable wife, Sarah, and and if the king of this place sees my wife, Sarah, that's an end of me. My throat will be slit in order that he might get Sarah. I'm not making it up. This is what he eventually told the king of Phil- Philistia. He said, I said that you're a fearful lot of chaps down here. The fear of God isn't in this place. Absolute sinners you are, and how can you survive in a world of sinners that haven't got any principles? I mean, it's all right being nice and good, isn't it, sitting in church where every believer is a man of exemplary principle. You could get through like them trusting the Lord, couldn't you? But what on earth are you going to do down on the marketplace when you're surrounded by a lot of crooks, and they haven't got a bit of principle in them anywhere? Ah, I mean, well, if you're going to be plain honest with chaps like that, they're not that suit your throat, but they'll suit your purse. I mean, can you afford to tell the truth? Okay, says Abram, Sarah, my dear, it goes a bit against the grain, but, you know, we must be prudent in this world. So, now don't let's tell all the truth. Just let's tell a a part of the truth, you see. You say, what's wrong with that? Nothing, my dear sir. You're not obliged to tell everybody everything. But it depends what motive you have. And if you tell half the truth in order deliberately to deceive, then of course you're lying, aren't you? Yes, Sarah was his sister, or his half sister, daughter of his father, but not of his mother. So it was a half truth when he told the Philistines, she's my sister. But he told them that half truth in order deliberately to deceive them. It was a lie. So it was a very serious lie. And if you're supposed to be trusting the God of truth, every lie is serious. Very denial of the character of God is a lie. Think how serious it was for Abraham and Sarah at this stage in proceedings. Some days, weeks, was it, possibly a month or two before? God had appeared to Abraham in his tent and said, Abraham, and the time comes round, your wife will be with child and bear a son. And now, some weeks, perhaps months after this, Abraham is taking that same wife and telling a lie and allowing the woman to be taken off by the Philistines. Wasn't he taking a very big risk about the eventual paternity of the child. And risking the whole purpose of God in the man's life. For the purpose of God in the man's life was not ultimately to save Abraham's skin. Purpose in life is to conform Abraham to the character of God, to fulfill the purpose of God. And if I can't fulfill the purpose of God and still keep on living, well, I'd better be dead. I say that advisedly, I had better be dead. To keep hold of physical life by compromising the purposes of God. Oh, what a sad and a sorry thing. For that is to confuse the end with the means, and the means with the end. You say, but aren't you rather hard on Abraham? Well, yes, but I preached it to myself first. You say, could he any chance of, I mean, how could he have known that God would have protected him in such a godless place? Oh God. Hadn't God said? In that moment of tremendous communion when God had come with the two angels and sat at Abram's table and they had fed there. Hadn't God said that when the time came round, his wife Sarah should have a son, and Abraham should see it? It hadn't happened yet. And should not Abraham have argued with himself logically and said, well, there are a funny lot of boys here, these Philistines. Of course, shouldn't like to meet too many of them in the dark all at once. But then, on the other hand, God has said that Sarah and I are going to have a son, and the son hasn't appeared yet, so God's word can't fail, and that means, doesn't it, that I can't have my throat slit just yet. So I'm safe until I, till the son is born anyway. They may slit my throat thereafter, of course, but they won't do it until the son is born because God has said Idiot. it. Yes. It's the stuff faith is made of, isn't it? I picture another great saint of God standing on the deck of a ship that is nearly going under in the middle of the Mediterranean during a storm. He stands in front of the frightened crew and passengers, and he says, now take courage, ladies and gentlemen, and go and get some good hot breakfast, because we're not going to be drowned. Oh, indeed not. How do you know that? Well, the Lord whom I serve had his angels stand by me this night, and he said, Paul, you've got to preach the gospel and witness for me in Rome. I don't care what seas there are around me, I'm not being drowned yet. God has said, Paul, you're going to preach the gospel in Rome. And Abraham might have argued like that, mightn't he? God has said you're going to have a son. Therefore, it was impossible the Philistine should slit his throat, at least before the son was born. But these were early days. Abraham, good old boy. Yes, he did believe in a way like the rest of us, but when it really came down to the, uh, practicalities of life, then his knees were a bit wobbly. It's all right, isn't it, meeting the Lord at his table. Oh, what giants of faith we are then. And it's wonderful what faith we can rise to when in the secret place we're interceding with God for the salvation of our relatives, as Abram did over the salvation of Lot. But get us down in an ungodly, unprincipled, sinful world. And then ask us to stand one hundred percent by true morality. And not dodge the issue by all sorts of shady things and half-truths and lies. Well, that's another story, isn't it? And how many of us, I the first, have fallen right there, afraid, for security reasons. It is a lovely thing to see that when Abram lost his nerve and told a half truth in order to deceive, then God himself entered in by a miracle of his providence and protected Sarah and Abram as well. You say God talked to those wicked old Gentiles? God talked to those wicked old Gentiles. You know, sometimes we think that God, the only people that could possibly obey God, are really born-again believers. But God has his way sometimes of making even the unregenerate obey him. And it's God's world yet. Lovely to see how when we sometimes spoil God's plan and blot our copy book and fail in his purpose, God comes out and puts his garrison around and saves us from disaster. So Abraham will have to be given now, if this this business is going to be cured, Abraham will have to be given a lesson in how reliable is the word of God. Dare I trust it implicitly? Dare I stake my future on it? The great lesson was given. Sarah produced a child. Listen how the word of God records that marvelous, uh, occasion. And the Lord visited Sarah as he had said. That's verse one of chapter twenty one. And the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken. And Sarah conceived and bare Abram a son in his old age at the set time of which God had spoken unto him. Three times over. It happened exactly as God had said. Oh, what a wonderful feeling it was. Sarah burst out into laughing, laughing, you know, when she got over the birth, burst out into laughing. God has made me to laugh, she said. It was so, in a way, incredible, so wonderful. The promise was true after all. As it had been given years ago. And as the years had gone on, Sarah's practicality and down-to-earthness, you know, whatever visions her husband got, she was pretty down to earth. She said, they, you know, isn't it a bit fantastic? Uh, shouldn't we take, I mean, wouldn't you rather take Hagar? I mean, God helps those that help themselves, doesn't he? Perhaps he doesn't mean it literally, I mean to say. And when God disapproved of that, well, then Sarah said, oh well, I see, yes. And the divine visitors came for lunch, and they were outside, uh, talking to Abraham, and God said to Abraham, your wife's going to have a son, and Pharaoh was cooking the beans in the back part of the tent. She collapsed with laughter. This is absurd. She said, Sarah, my age, having a son. What will they say next? Well, anyway. But it happened. It actually happened. Exactly as God said, it happened. Very delay, a scene delay made it all that more wonderful and impressive. He really meant. I don't know if you've ever had an experience like that. God has given you a promise, and it seemed over many weary months or years that he, did he mean it or didn't he? At last it happened, and you didn't know whether to be sorry or pleased, whether to cry or to laugh. It was wonderful that he actually meant it. All the tremendous sense of security, he actually meant what he said. Then that feeling, why did I ever doubt the million and a half times I doubted? God's word true, all the mirth of it, the happiness, the joy of it, the laughter that's in it. My, how we'll laugh when we get home to heaven, Jonathan. It's true, it's more than true. You think I ever doubted it, and God held onto me in spite of it, and he's fulfilled his word down to the very letter. The lesson it was for old Abram to dare to trust God's word. That is where we get our security from. Then it came to the time when the boy had to be weaned, which in the Hebrew world would be about the age of four or so on. And Sarah saw Ishmael mocking her child, and she said, this is it. And this time she was right. The slave boy cannot inherit with the free. You'll have to turn him out, Abraham. And Abraham didn't like the thought of that. So God once more had to appear to him and say, Abraham, that is so, you'll have to turn him out. I sent him back for this intervening period, but now the promised seed has been born, you can't have both, Abraham. It's got to be one or the other. And in my judgment, says God, and in my command, it's Ishmael, the slave boy, that's got to go. My purposes are through the freeborn son. With great difficulty, Abraham at last got up and did what he was told, and he sent Hagar and Ishmael away. When the Apostle Paul comes to comment on this in Galatians chapter four and five, he makes the same point, doesn't he? We cannot stop now to investigate the line of reasoning that underlies his interpretation. We must take what he says at its face value. Hagar represents, says Saint Paul, that old covenant, the covenant made by God with Israel on Mount Sinai on the basis of the law. That old covenant that was put in temporarily until the promised seed should come. So that Israel for many centuries were related to God by that old covenant, a covenant of work, being taught the exceeding weakness and sinfulness of the flesh and the wickedness of sin, and being prepared in their hearts for the salvation that should come when the promisee should arrive. But at length the promisee did come, even Jesus Christ our Lord. And he put aside the old covenant, and he instituted the new covenant in his blood. Then there were people who fell into this kind of experience. They said, yes, oh, how wonderful to have forgiveness through Christ, to have eternal life, to have it as a gift. Marvelous, yes, we will believe Christ. And they did. And then certain other folks came along and they said, yes, but you're not going to pack up circumcising your children, are you? I mean, I mean, if we'll be safe. I mean, can you really be saved simply by faith in Christ? Of course not. I mean, that would be foolish to think like that. Yes, trust Christ, but you better be circumcised as well and keep the law of Moses, you know. Bit, sorry, they didn't use it in those terms. Um... What did Paul say? What would he say? You'll have to choose. Sorry. Now that Christ has come, the promised seed has arrived, and the new covenant is offered, salvation? Ah, you'll have to choose it. It will be either through Christ, as a free gift, without the works of the law. Or it will be that you try your best to do God's law and try to earn salvation by keeping his law. Now, let me tell you, says Paul, you'll never do it. There were people who fell into this kind of experience. They said, yes, oh, how wonderful to have forgiveness through Christ, to have eternal life, to have it as a gift. Marvelous, yes, we will believe Christ. And they did. And then certain other folks came along and they said, yes, but you're not going to pack up circumcising your children, are you? I mean, can you really be saved simply by faith in Christ? Of course not. I mean, that would be foolish to think like that. Yes, trust Christ, but you better be circumcised as well and keep the law of Moses, you know. Head your bets, only they didn't use it in those terms. Um. What did Paul say? What would he say? You'll have to choose. Sorry. Now that Christ has come, the promised seed has arrived, and the new covenant is offered, salvation. Ah, you'll have to choose it. It will be either through Christ, as a free gift, without the works of the law, or it will be that you try your best to do God's law and try to earn salvation by keeping his law. Now, let me tell you, says Paul, you'll never do it. All that you will succeed in doing is demonstrating that you are a sinner, that that law condemns you. But you can't have both. Look, you who would be justified by the works of the law, you are severed from Christ. You cannot mix the two. You'll either be Christ or your ceremonies and your works. Come, he says, you'll have to face the decision Abram faced. Cast out the bond of woman and her son, and dare to be left with merely the freeborn child, heir of salvation, totally by grace. Now that may be a big step, a a a a a very easy step for you who are brought up in your particular traditions to take. It's a very difficult step for some folks. I was visiting a country recently where there are many dear true believers, who, if you press them to the heart, would say that they, yes, they trust Christ and only Christ for salvation. And you say, why do you get your infants baptized? Well, well, well, we don't believe there's anything in it, but, uh, well. Yes, well, what? A little bit like the Irishman, aren't they? And the priest threatened that he would turn him into a, a mouse. And all the way home he said, no, my dear, I don't believe it, I don't believe it. Nonsense, turn me into a mouse, turn me into a nonsense, turn me into a mouse. And when they got to the garden gate, he said, but my dear, just you go in and put the cat out first, please. Just in case. You want to, you want to have it both ways, do you? Yes, you trust Christ, but just in case. Then you trust your works, your sales, your infant baptism, your something else or other. But you can't. And if I call upon you in the name of God to give up your trust in your works and your ceremonies, that begins to make you feel ever so insecure, doesn't it? And to ask you to come out and take your stand solely on the word of Christ. Oh, but to you that is seems to be asking a tremendous lot. You scarce dare do it. We've all felt that way, we know exactly how you feel. But what a funny situation it is, when we dare trust the word of God and feel we have more security in the word of men. Now, if we would find true security, if indeed we would find salvation, we must learn to cast out the bondwoman and her son, the slave with these works, and learn to trust Christ and only Christ for salvation. Just a little interlude. When Hagar and, uh, Ishmael were put out, they were put out because, um, uh, God had not a place in this particular scheme of things for them. Really, Ishmael should not have been there, in a sense. He was the result of Abram's own foolish mistake and rashness. And notice, please, will you, the tenderness of God? For the spiritual principle involved, Hagar and Ishmael must be turned out, but because they were his creatures, God loved them. And at the level of sheer practicalities of daily life, the God of heaven, who is interested in giving security to to Abraham and Isaac, gives his great security to Hagar and Ishmael too. Oh, what a lovely thing. God pays the expenses of our spiritual education. I think sometimes of the people that I have wronged through my mistakes. I wish I could undo it. I take comfort in this, that God, for his honor's sake, will compensate them for the wrongs that I, his foolish student, did. Because God's very name would be brought into dishonor, wouldn't it? But then we move on s- quickly to the climax. And it was brought about, first of all, in God's wisdom, by the behavior of, uh, the king of Philistine, of Philistia, and Ficol, the captain of his host. The king of Philistia had a son. And there's nothing like a man having a son, is there, to make him begin to be security-minded. To look to the boy's future. To think about possible insurance. And the king of Philistia, I say, had a start. And he saw Abram, who was a great sheikh, who owned no end of servants and cattle and cows and donkeys and sheep and oxen and goodness knows what, a miniature king was Abram. And to have such a very powerful nomad prince in the area of Philistia, well, there was all right, all right when you were taking afternoon tea and being nice to each other and reading the Tattler and whatnot. But, but, but how could Abraham be sure? You know, I mean, how could Abimelech be sure, king of Philistia? How could he be actually sure about this, this, this, this Hebrew man? He'd sit at your table and drink your tea, you know, and pretend to be nice. But suppose Abimelech were to die and that left his boys and they were a bit innocent in business. Could we be sure that this Hebrew chap, Abram, wouldn't steal what was theirs and pull a few fast deals on them and take over their land and boot them out? So Father Abimelech, he feels that, uh, he better, you know, be a sensible businessman and make sure there are security for his boys. And he went to Abram, he said, now look here, Abram, I want to suggest we put our relationship on a decent business footing, you know, and we'll call in a solicitor, and let's make a covenant one with another. So that when I'm gone, I can be sure that you won't do any damage, he says. Therefore, swear unto me here by God that thou will not deal falsely with me, nor with my son, nor with my son's son, but according to the kindness that I have done unto thee, thou shalt do unto me and to the land wherein thou hast sojourned. And Abram said, I will swear. For you see, with men, an oath for confirmation is the end of all strife, isn't it? And the Philistine king wanted security for his son. Says he to Abram, you swear to me, by God. And Abram swore. He could trust his own heart, he felt, enough. Yes, he didn't want to wrong those boys. Well, he'd give them an acre or two and a camel or two rather than he'd wrong them or pull a fast deal over the innocent lad in business. He got enough. Well, God bless the lads. And Abram swore an oath that he would never harm those lads in any way at all. And they called the name of the well, the well of the oath. Be'er, which means well, and Sheba, which means oath, Be-sheba. And the historian pauses to rub in the significance of it, doesn't he? Let me read you the verses. Wherefore he called that place Be'er Sheba, that is the well of the oath, because they swear, both of them. So they made a covenant at the well of the oath. And Abimelech rose up and Ficol, the captain of his host, and they returned unto the land of the Philistines. And Abraham planted a tamarisk tree by the well of the oath, and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, and Abraham's sojourn in the land of the Philistines many days. The well of the oath, an oath of security for the Philistine's son. It came to pass after these things that God said, Abraham. You want security too, don't you, old chap? For your son. You're pretty elderly, aren't you? Do you want security for your son? And a guaranteed future for him? Of course you do, Abraham. What man or woman doesn't in his heart long for secure? And then says God to Avon, Avon, I better put you to the place where alone security is to be found. Avon, security is found in the last amount in me and in my word. Ultimately, there's no security outside of you. Security, Abram, is in me and in my word. Abram, you learned that. You learned to trust me and only me. You're thinking of security for your boy and, uh, for the future beyond. Come on, give me your boy. Give him to me. I wonder what thoughts raced through Abram's mind in those first few moments, feeling utterly naked and bereft at his age in life, and all the future that was in doubt. He has to hand over the lot. He stands on the top of Mount Moriah. On the one side there's God, on the other side everything else. Deliberately he gives up everything else and dares to trust God. Happy man. Oh, happy man. My dear fellow believer, if you think that's hard, do please remember that one of these days it won't be Mount Moriah, it'll be the bottom of your stairs, like poor old Miss Farrell. We'll have to leave everything anyway, won't we? And in that moment, if you thought security were here, how sadly distressed you would be. Learn it now. Yes, there is security. There is eternal security. Found in God. And in his word. Well, Abram did a bit of thinking. You imagine he went up the mountain singing Hallelujah, I'm H-A-P-P-Y, you know, uh, it's better as the days go by, up the mountain, I think, rather. He wasn't such a fool. Come to the great crisis of life, and he must decide. How should he decide it? By logic, says Holy Scripture. Logic. Hebrews eleven lets us into the secret of the man's heart. He that has received the promises was being asked to offer up Isaac, and he did it reasoning it out in his mind. He reasons it out. God's word has said that in Isaac shall thy seed be called. In thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the world be blessed. God's word had said it. Now, if God asks him to offer Isaac on that altar, well, it's to save him from the death and raise him from the dead, that's all. Because he said he's going to bless me in Isaac. And he can't break his word. Therefore, if God says he's going to bless me in Isaac and the next minute says, kill Isaac on that altar, well, you have to raise him from the dead, that's all. Well, that's not my responsibility, says Abram. I trust God's word. And if God can allow himself to be a liar, well, then I've lost everything. But so long as God tells the truth, I can put that knife into Isaac and get God's word shall be fulfilled. And Abraham decided that in his heart, with the logic of faith, whatever his emotions felt like. Oh, how terrible, terribly wrought his emotions must have been. Uh, with the persistence of the deliberate logic of faith against all emotions. Raised the knife. God says, that's enough, eh. Good lies always. And God provided. He lifted up his eyes, and there was a ram caught in the thicket. Jehovah had seen and provided. Ah, but there was a something, there was a bigger lesson. The angel of the Lord called out of heaven a second time and said, because thou hast not withheld thine only son, by myself have I sworn. Blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And with that oath in his ears, Abraham returned to the well of the earth. God's earth is done. That by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to die, both he and we might have strong consolation, wait for refuge, take hold of the hope set before us. Man that has learned to dare to trust God and his word finds a security that cannot be shaken. The word of God and the oath of God. His oath, his covenant and blood support me in the whelming flood, though around my soul give way, still abides my strength and stir. My dear fellow believer, if you learn to trust God like that in his words, then you'll stand unafraid, though the very universe dissolves around you. You say, where can anybody get faith like that? Where can you get it? You won't work it up. You ask that question, then suddenly the passage of Genesis that we have been studying at the practical level to learn Abram's lesson of faith, s- like a television screen begins to change. One father and one son. Behind it there's seen a deeper vision of another father and another son. In the Garden of Eden, the devil came to man and he said, has God said? Huh. God could do better for you than this Eve. God doesn't provide all he could, does he? He leaves you without one. Has God said? Does God provide? Oh, how often the slander has been whispered in our ears as to whether we dare trust God's word and whether, if we do, God will really provide. The answer, I swear to get faith is on another mountain, or is it the same mountain? Father and son walk together, and God so loved that he gave. He that spared not his own son delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him freely give us all? Can't we trust him? Then I look again. I think of that first man in the garden where all was delightful and crowded around with God's gifts and his presence. One man in the garden disobeyed God. You see that other man, that second Adam, led by God and walking by faith all his life long. Last God led him to a cross. When he hung there spied, they mocked him with his very trust in God and said, there you are, that's what happens to people like him who trust in God. Let God deliver him now if he will. He cried, and there came no answer, only the very blackness of hell. He said in his heart, oh God, why are thou silent? You hear, why don't you answer? Our fathers trusted in thee, what miserable, wretched men they were. How often they failed, for when in their extremity they cried to you, you heard them. I cry, in the daytime, I hear us not, and in the night season, we are not silent. In that moment, the Father's knife was raised, and the Son, with perfect obedience, offered himself to Father. What happened to faith like that? Christ had it settled before it all began. A few moments before he went to the cross, he stood and prayed. He says, Father, Father, I finished your work. You will glorify me, won't you? You won't let me down. You will honor my faith. If I go to that cross for you and there be crucified naked. You will glorify me, won't you? And so day, God, who cannot lie, raised him from the dead and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God. The Lord help us to sense the tremendous practical nature of these lessons and bring us to that grad where we find unshakable security of heart and faith in God and his holy will. To help ourselves before we go, for it's only five to nine, We shall sing, uh, three verses of a hymn. The hymn is, uh, verse, uh, number eighteen. We shall sing the first three verses, and those of you who need to go to get buses and whatnot, please feel free to go. But to cement our lesson in our hearts, those of us who can stay will stay, and we shall sing together the first three verses of hymn eighteen, The God of Abraham prays, who reigns enthroned above. Open in the dawn, angels of everlasting praise and awe. Dear how great I am, my hope and end are there. My My far love and and faith are endless stream will be forever blessed. That far away from grace and full of free promise, from where That thy my God heart and she has have shewn joy. joined and in my hands, and all men will say his wisdom, grace, and love, and in my own name also they my shield and crown. He by himself has gone, by all his own may fare, like the Lord he will sing of hope forever. I am. So. So, Father, we commit ourselves now to thee. We thank thee for these lessons in thine ancient word, for the way they ring true to our hearts and speak to us now in this advanced age. We pray that thou, who so kindly did lead Abraham and was merciful with his failings and with his falterings, and did bring him at last to that place where his faith was justified before thee and proved genuine. So do with us, we beseech thee. If any here have not yet begun the pilgrimage of faith and have not learned justification by faith without the works of the law, then, Lord, teach them, we beseech thee, and cause them to seek thee whilst thou mayest be found, that they, by simple faith, may have peace with God. Those of us who have long since known thee, O Lord, we thank thee for whither thou hast brought us, for the lessons learned, for the progress made. We pray only thy grace, that as life's examinations necessarily get more demanding, thou wilt so strengthen us. Thou who hast begun a good work in us will complete it and perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore now we praise thee for all thy word and all thy power and for thine unshakable oath. We praise thee Through through Jesus Jesus Christ. Christ.