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The Lord Who Provides By David Calderwood

01/06/2002
Genesis 22

I guess most men like to think of themselves as good providers it was one
of the things I most thought about when I took my voice to love and cherish
Alison for our term of our natural lives and I think most men want to do that
don't they it's a little bit of an old-fashioned notion these days of being
a good provider but with two income families and stuff but the term still is
a real meaning hasn't it for I think most Christian men we don't always do
what we anticipate and hope we might do we don't always get it right but
basically I think most men want to be good providers that is they want to
provide the basic needs of the family clothing food to eat a roof over the
heads a stable relationship and so on the list could go most men want to be
good providers well I tell you this morning I stand before you about to open
up this text that's precisely how God wants us to think about him God wants us
to think and live under him as the consummate good provider look at verses
8 and 14 just to see where the idea comes from in the text before we start
to unpack the story that the idea that the term the name of God that I'm going
to look at this morning is Jehovah Jireh the term that means a good provider it
actually literally means the Lord will provide verse 8 this notion is first
raised there Abraham answered God himself will provide the lamb for the
burnt offering my son and verse 14 so Abraham called the place the Lord will
provide Jehovah Jireh and to this day is said on the margin of the Lord it will
be provided Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide or perhaps even a better
translation the Lord will see to it the Lord will see to it my son the Lord will
see to it Jehovah is God's personal name and so
Jehovah Jireh is a personal and warm and relational term defining who God is in
relationship to his people in relationship to his people you and me
we're to think of God as the great provider the one who will see to it the
one who will provide our needs every last one of them responsibly and
abundantly now that's easy to say isn't it but the questions got to be asked
early on in the piece do we really believe in that Jehovah Jireh as the
little chorus goes is my provider his grace is sufficient for me a related
idea of Jehovah Jireh is the whole notion of the Providence of God that
whole term means God's provision God's providing for his people now when it
comes to the Providence of God I think perhaps some of our lack of confidence
our lack of belief in God comes to the surface in the way we speak about the
Providence of God and I find that true for myself oftentimes I'll say if
something really nice happens or some great development in the church falls in
the place the way we planned it we say isn't that a wonderful Providence of God
but then if you fall ill or something happens within your family or some great
personal relationship blow up happens in the church oftentimes we don't say then
well isn't that a wonderful Providence of God oftentimes we can't even bring
ourselves to apply the notion of the Providence of God to that we often say
well gee that's really unfortunate or that's bad see too easily the notion of
the Providence of God the notion of God providing can just be reduced to be in a
cliche which is I think the Christian equivalent sometimes of of good luck
when things are great we say well isn't the Providence of God I think the
Christian a cliche Christian equivalent of saying well you know we've enjoyed
some good luck well I want to look at this notion this morning of Jehovah
Jireh being a great provider because I think here we see Abraham well Abraham
we see a different Abraham to the one we saw yesterday I think I'll explain that
in a minute but we see a man here who obviously was confident in God's control
of and involvement in all the circumstances of life it would be
unimaginable to get a harsher circumstance than what we see Abraham
called into here by the Lord because he gets a shocking command from God and
that's where we start the story in the text and it is whatever way you look at
it's got to be a shocking command from the Lord first one God speaks to Abraham
again Abram he said here I am he replied then God said take your son yes
Abraham your only son Isaac whom you love and go to the region of Moriah
sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you
about God speaks to Abraham again I don't think Abraham in as wild as
dreams could have anticipated what the Lord was going to say to him try and
imagine what it must have been like for Abraham he was a man just like man here
he is a person just like people here try and imagine what it must have been like
for Abraham the parent Abraham the father to have heard this command of God
surely Abraham would have been saying it's surely God can you just run over
that again I must have heard you wrong this is outrageous Lord you can't be
asking me to do this it doesn't make sense Lord surely it can't be right
Abrams response well I think we see we'll come to the response the minute
we got a sense something of the private hell that must have been there for
Abraham I mean here he is several years later they waited 24 years 25 years for
the fulfillment of God's promise to provide an heir a son who would be the
promise bearer and bring all the other promises of great blessing and nation to
being and no doubt Abraham and Sarah being like ordinary parents would have
settled down to really enjoy Isaac boy they had waited long enough for him
hadn't they and wouldn't they have enjoyed him every minute they would have
looked every time they'd have looked at Isaac they were saying well praise God
the Lord Almighty has brought through his promise and they would have been
waiting every time they looked at Isaac the first stage of the promise is true
they would have thought well when's the rest of the promise gonna come true God's
done the first part now let's wait patiently and expectedly expectantly for
the Lord to do the rest bring it to fruition and the Lord speaks again and
you can imagine everyone thinking well perhaps now the next stages are going to
be fulfilled and his world would have been turned upside down when he heard
the Lord's words Lord what on earth are you doing this time Lord this is a
person you're telling me to take them sacrifice you're telling me to take a
person Lord and kill a person just for a sacrifice Lord this is a mere child
you're telling me to kill a child who hadn't experienced life he's got it all
before him Lord this is my child my lovely child the one I love my only
child Lord my own flesh and blood Lord this is the air I've waited 25 years for
the one who was born so miraculously when all human hope of a child was gone
Lord this is the child through whom you said you'd fulfill your promises
promises to create a great nation through whom you said you'd bring great
glory to yourself Lord Lord how will this promise be fulfilled if you make me
take this boy and kill him for a sacrifice Lord have you given them to me
simply to take him away from me so cruelly and so soon and perhaps if
Abraham was like the rest is perhaps Abraham started to think to himself well
maybe now the Lord's taken out punishment on me and Sarah for laughing
at him when he promised he would give us a child maybe now the Lord's you know
given us our comeuppance I'm reading between the lines there folks you know
but I'm trying to get a human face on this situation because you see it was in
that situation that Abraham's response is so vivid in spite of this outrageous
shocking command from God verse 3 we see Abraham's amazing obedience and trust in
God Abraham got up saddled his donkey took with him two of his servants his
son Isaac when he had cut enough word for the burnt offering he set out the
place God had told him about there's no argument there's no anger miss this time
my friends there's no laughing at God
like thinking it was a cruel joke like he felt the last time God had spoken to
Abraham simply got what he needed together verse 3 there set off a three
day journey that I tell you friends as a father must have seemed like a
lifetime imagine the pain for Abraham as he asked Isaac to carry the sticks that
within a couple of days consume his body
verse 7 8 I suspect they are gonna get even worse because I think started to
work out a few things that he's going along and he said father we're going to
offer a burnt offering aren't we yes I'm going to offer a burnt offering
father where is the burnt offering how would you answer that one as a father
where's this burnt offering gonna come from dad what does Abraham say Jehovah
Jireh the Lord will provide now we've got to remember verse 1 that this was a
test now test if it's going to be a test means that Abraham wouldn't have known
the outcome otherwise it wouldn't have been a test would it so as Abraham
reported responded to his son's inquiries he was saying the Lord would
provide no one in the back of his mind the Lord had already said what that
provision would be the sacrifice of his son
that's trusting in God's Providence is it not even when it's beyond awful
beyond belief that's trusting in God's Providence we have to say you couldn't
possibly begin to understand that Providence could you it couldn't
understand for a moment what God intended to do in all this but with it
was not enough for Abraham and this is where we see ever I'm a different man it
was not enough for Abraham that the Lord was behind it it was a Lord's
command I suspect Abraham somehow rather managed humanly speaking somehow rather
managed to trust the Lord knowing that the Lord would work out even this
horrible circumstance for good in terms of his promises and cabinet but imagine
Isaac and Abraham logging ice imagine Isaac so totally fearful and confused
but in spite of that as the story goes Abraham raised his hand to strike down
his child but at the last minute the Lord stopped Abraham verse 12 do not lay
a hand on the boy he said do not do anything to him now I know that you fear
God because you've not withheld from me your son your only son the Lord knew
that this man Abraham would trust him in any circumstance in life if he was
prepared to do this anything else in life would have been relatively easy for
Abraham
Abrams actions proved his love for God
then verse 13 the story becomes even more amazing and you can sense the
relief coming through the story in the best vein of a good story
Abraham looked up and there was the reprieve there in a thicket he saw a ram
caught by its horns he went over and took the ram and sacrificed as a burnt
offering instead of his son you hear that he sacrificed it as a burnt
offering instead of his son now verse 14 we're in a position I think to
understand the feeling with which Abraham would have named that place the
Lord will provide they're not just words because here's a man who suddenly
realized that the Lord had produced and provided a substitute for his son so the
sacrifice for sin could be made without Isaac having to die now we can
understand something of what Abraham would have felt when he said and he
named that place and made it legendary so to this day when it was written it's
called the same thing the Lord will say to it the Lord will provide the Lord is
known as being a good provider for his people he's known as that generally but
never more so than in providing a substitute for the sin of Abraham
allowing Isaac to live and look at verses 15 to 19 because the story
becomes even more wonderful see because of Abraham's action in offering up his
own son great blessing would come to his descendants the angel of the Lord called
to Abraham from heaven a second time and said I swear by myself declares the
Lord which is a really unusual term for the Lord to say that this is a pretty
big if I can speak in this terms with regard to the Lord this is a pretty big
deal for the Lord I think for him to say I swear by myself if I can say this
without being a reverend it's almost impressed the Lord say Abraham's
response I swear by myself declares the Lord that because you've done this and
have not withheld your son your only son I will surely bless you and make your
descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore
your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies and through
your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed because you've obeyed me his
obedience had direct results for all who followed him over the years and friends
you're probably well and truly in tune with where I'm going with the
application for this I want to use the last time remaining just just by way of
applying this and I want to suggest to start with that it must have been
incredibly hard for Abraham I've tried to make the story come alive for you
today and give you a feel for what it must have been like for Abraham I think
one of our problems when we read these Old Testament stories especially stories
like this is they're so familiar to us that they just become words this is a
story of great passion of great depth of great confidence and trust this is a
story that would be every parent's nightmare it must have been incredibly
hard for Abraham to come to terms the idea of sacrificing his one and only
beloved son and more so even when that son was going to be sacrificed for sins
which he was not guilty of verse two clearly the Lord was making the statement
to Abraham that Isaac was going to be sacrificed as a burnt offering on
Abraham's behalf what father would be able to give up one so precious to deal
with sins for which he is not guilty of I've never been tested in that regard
I'd like to think that my natural response as a father would be to defend
my children at the expense of my own life what father would live through
sacrificing his son what father would be prepared to pay that cost what father
would sacrifice the innocent for the guilty but in spite of the cost in spite
of the grief that must have caused Abraham he didn't hold back and his
actions demonstrated beyond any doubt how much he loved the Lord and more than
that as I've already said his action with the very means of bringing great
benefit and blessing to countless thousands of descendants the friends you
can see the parallel I'm just I'm about to make well it's not a parallel
actually be more properly described as a contrast yeah it was must have been hard
for Abraham as the father but I tell you it must have been infinitely harder for
God the great provider it must have been incredibly hard for God sacrificing
as one and only beloved son see this New Testament tells us that Jesus was God
Jesus enjoyed a relationship with a father that was unique it's like no
other relationship we see in this world such was its closeness and its identity
and it's sameness and its differences and when Jesus come into the world as
the Son of God we see the most amazing thing brought upon that relationship the
father would put in train the very things that would lead to the death of
his son his one and only son he would be killed as a sacrifice and what a
sacrifice that must have been that none less than God himself should experience
suffering and rejection and death at the hands of his of his father what sort of
love drives that father what sort of father would give up one so precious and
especially when it was to deal with the sins he was not guilty of Jesus life was
sacrificed were told in the New Testament to deal with the sins of his
people not his own sins but the sins of his people Jesus didn't have sin so if
he didn't have to sacrifice for how hard must that have been for God to kill his
son as the payment for sin he did not commit to others who rightly deserve to
die might live freely as it turned out Abraham got a reprieve from God didn't
him but there was no reprieve for the father when Christ was about to be
sacrificed why could there have been a pray for the father because only the
sacrifice of Christ was sufficient to deal with the sins of his people the
penalty of those things and the offense of those things only the sacrifice of
Christ would be sufficient to bring guilty dirty sinners back into good
relationship with God so they could be in heaven with God forever what sort of
father would be prepared to pay that cost
but in spite of the cost and the grief that must have caused him God didn't
hold back his only son and his action demonstrated beyond any doubt how much
he loved his people he didn't deserve it and just like Abraham's action brought
great blessing to thousands upon thousands of descendants so the Lord's
action brought great blessing to thousands upon thousands of descendants
of Christ and you and I gathered here together in Christ this morning in as
much as you're a Christian here this morning we are direct beneficiaries of
that wonderful love
so my friends will you trust God to say to it in every circumstance of life you
might think the circumstances of your life are pretty tough goodness only
knows I think the circumstances of my life over the years at times have been
tough but you know it's an obscene thought really I'm speaking of myself
and I'm not speaking about you I'm not calling you obscene I'm talking about me
own conclusions about my own circumstances of life it's an obscene
thought really put it against this sort of sacrifice this sort of cost to God
the father that his son should be killed for my benefit as I call you this
morning to to chow to trust God in every circumstance of life we need to know I
think that God has already demonstrated his commitment to providing for our
every need of me he's provided for our deepest need he's seen to that problem
that was the greatest problem in fact it was the problem that meant
relationship couldn't happen God seemed to that so he's done that one by
contrast other circumstances in our life have got to be this big you see what I'm
saying
so the challenge has got to be will we trust God to provide for will we trust
the provision of God for our health for our children for our careers or will we
be people who easily called the pleasant circumstances of life God's Providence
but doubt that God's demonstrated enough love to is to trust him in the tough
times of life what reason would you have as a Christian for thinking that God has
in any shape or form failed to demonstrate love for you and commitment
to you where would you possibly look in the scriptures to say there's a question
over how much God is determined to provide for your every need where would
you look
and God's strange Providence my friends we've got to remember here was not
designed to make Abraham collapse in a heap he was designed to strengthen
Abraham's characters to designed to strengthen his faith it was designed to
make Abraham see again that God was eminently worthwhile trusting and
worthy of his trust and confidence because God would provide God would see
to every situation of life
you
whatever God calls us to he will provide for or say to that situation and bring
us through it like what God calls us to and this is an important application
here I think for our whole sort of persona in evangelism see if you look at
the Sermon on the Mount Matthew chapter 5 through 7 Christ there calls his
people Kingdom people to a radically different Kingdom lifestyle where to
show in the way we respond to the things of life and the circumstances of life
the changing power of the gospel to show that we're radically different people
our focus has changed our whole purpose in living has changed the whole way we
think about our world and respond to our world has changed and so we get item
after item aspect of life after aspect of life dealt with in the Sermon the
month each one calling us a stock calls it says to a radical counterculture
we're to demonstrate that we actually do believe Jehovah Jireh we actually do
believe the Lord has provided and will provide for every need so therefore why
worry Jehovah Jireh where he's pointless and so on and so forth
you see the point it's a radical call and it's a hard call for us because
there's so much in this world that looks so good there's so much that looks so
appealing so much that is so seductive I think you sometimes our problem and not
being able to trust the Lord's provision is that we think we'll miss out on the
good things of life advertising by definition works otherwise people
wouldn't spend thousands and millions of dollars on it and we're all the time
been told that you got to have this or that or the other thing because not to
have them as to miss out on the good things of life and so picking up a point
and John and I didn't collaborate on these preparations mind you but I felt
them preaching my my sermon a little while ago we therefore hesitate to
invest our time and our efforts and our money in gospel things because we think
well if we use it that way it might mean I miss out on something else that's work
very worthwhile over here
and I think if we're being honest and again I apply this to myself before I
apply it to you I think I've been honest in terms and look back through where we
have spent our money and have spent our time and have spent our efforts wouldn't
we have to conclude that we think there's more to begin in and acquiring
the provisions of the world as it were against that what the Lord's promises to
provide for us you only have to do your math and see where the balance falls of
course I'm not saying that that we shouldn't enjoy the things of life I
mean God tells us that he's given us good things for enjoyment I'm talking
about bounds and I'm talking about perspective and we got to remember my
friends that God is so totally committed to giving us every good thing
in Christ Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 the fact the matter is that in Christ we
already have every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in other words if I
can put it in these terms again there's nothing which God can think of that he
can give us more than what he's already given us he sort of scratched his head
if I can use this this this anthropomorphic language of God he's
scratching his head and think well I've given them everything I can't think of
anything better to give them it's all in Christ they have it all will we not also
trust him to care for us as we live radically and obediently for him it's
one thing as I said yesterday have a gospel message that speaks about the
wonderful changes that Christ can bring into life wouldn't we add to that
message something powerful if people could see we actually believed it that
we were living contented ly and confidently under the provision of God
knowing that in Christ we had everything we really needed in this life and will
you trust the Lord in the predicament of guilty sinners God's provision for his
sinful people is most clearly seen in the provision of a substitute sacrifice
to satisfy his anger at the offense of sin and to satisfy the penalty of sin
and just as Abraham's response sure made that whole place legendary that the Lord
would say to it so my friends I take it as Christians we ought to make God's
provision and salvation legendary in the way we go about evangelism because
you see that's the remarkable thing about the gospel isn't it it's God's
provision that that's the astounding thing it's God's provision that we want
to to advertise and make big in people's minds isn't it all the focus in our
evangelism should be on what God has done because it was his provision from
start to finish in other words my friends the gospel has got to be and
we've got to convey it and the way we speak to people and the way we approach
evangelism the gospel has got to be something that shows people what God is
like God the great provider we've got to show that he provides for our greatest
need he provides for our every need my friends the gospel shows us God and what
a great God and isn't that that is not him we want people to say first and
foremost
God wants to be honored as a provider he wants to be known as a provider he wants
people to say well isn't it wonderful the Lord has provided for us thus but
unfortunately that's not the emphasis we see in so much modern evangelism is it
see what we think what what's happened among Christians today is that we think
well if we're going to attract interest in the gospel we have to sell it in
terms of benefits for people I mentioned this sort of thing yesterday slightly
different emphasis today and so the emphasis of so much evangelism isn't it
well I get my sins forgiven I get a place in heaven I get this I get that
no all those things true of course they are just not the primary emphasis of
evangelism I wouldn't have thought
we think we're doing the gospel of service by selling it to people like
that but I tell you in doing that when we may do something of a service to
people I suppose but we've done a disservice to the Lord have we not if
people come at the end of the gospel and are thankful because of what they've
received what benefits they've gained that's a wonderful thing but wouldn't it
be even greater if their first point of reference is to bow open-mouthed in
wonder before the great Jehovah jar the great provider
the message of the gospel is not so much I think how we benefit but how much the
Lord has provided how great the God that our Lord is in that provision friends
again sometimes and I'm harping on this thing and I'm going to pick it up
tomorrow so if you think of it you may as well stay at home I think but
sometimes we've got this great gospel message and it is a great gospel message
and John's been been open it up wonderfully it is but John also picked
up this morning about the power of a godly life what's wrong with so much
evangelism what's wrong with so many churches these days I'm going to say
more about this tomorrow as well well they're trying to take a message in a
vacuum trying to make a message without the powerful changed lives and the
radical lifestyle to back the message and not surprisingly for the message
seems like a joke we've got a trust we've got to see the Lord of the great
provider let's make sure we embrace the way we embrace the gospel and the way we
present the gospel tell it reflects God's gracious provision because he's
the hero at the end of the day isn't it he's the hero of the gospel let's live
confidently under Christ on a day by day basis so that our friends and neighbors
and family members and workmates look us they say they really do a minute they
are confident the Lord has provided their every need that every spiritual
blessings theirs in Christ and therefore they're not hankering through the things
the world looks offers and promises that gives offers of great abundance and
blessings through and let's be thankful for God's gracious provision I can
imagine Abraham must have been a deeply thankful man do we share anything of
that thankfulness for the Lord's provision for us
it's Jehovah Jireh your God the Lord will save it is a your loving father is
a your Savior let's pray
Lord forgive us for the times we've spoken of your the cost of the sacrifice
of your son in innocuous terms and without feeling Lord we know the old
cliche ourselves that familiarity breeds contempt and Lord it would have to be
true that so often when we spoken of the death of your son and the cost of that
salvation and forgiveness to you we've spoken of it Lord in incredibly trivial
terms forgive us for that we pray Lord and give us a sense again as we've
thought about this story of Abraham and made the the connection to the cost for
you in sacrificing your one and only son help us Lord there for to see you as a
great provider the one who will see to it the one has seen to our deepest need
our greatest need and the one who therefore Lord we can trust to see to
our every need help to live as those who haven't who no longer have pressing
needs help to live for those who are needs met in Christ so we might be
radical in the way we live and thereby Lord add wonderful power and winsome
winsomeness to the gospel message we proclaim with our lips and we pray in
Christ's name