Southern Christian University

James A. Turner

EARLY MORNING SCENES

1.The Offering Up Of Isaac Is A Scene Of Great Faith

A. Abraham Had Waited More Than Twenty-eight Years For This “Son Of Promise” (Gen. 12:1-3, 15:1-6, 16:34,, 16:16, 17:1, 18:10, 21:1-5).

1. Isaac was at least several years old, some think he was an adult, when God

said, “Take your son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and

offer him there as a burnt offering ——--- Gen. 22:2.”

2. We read, “So Abraham ROSE EARLY IN THE MORNING” (Gen. 22:3) to do as God had commanded! My, what faith! And what did he tell Sarah before he left?

3. The journey to the mountain took three days (22:4). Abraham had his servants to stay behind while he and Isaac wait up the mountain. Isaac said, “My father! Be hold the fire and the wood; but where is the lamb — ? Abraham said, “God will, provide——When they came to the place Abraham bound Isaac and laid him on the altar—and took the knife to slay his son----—But the angel of the Lord called “Do not lay your hand on the lad -- seeing you have not withheld your son — (22:4-12).”

B. This Scene Is Surely One Of The Greatest Scenes of Faith Of The Whole Bible.

1. Abraham then saw a ram with its horns caught in a thicket, and he offered it as

a burnt offering.

2. The N.T. tells us that he desired “a better country”, and that he accounted that God was able to raise him from the dead, and “did also in a figure receive him back (Heb. 11: 13-19).”

3. The angel said, “By myself I have sworn says the Lord —— I will multiplyyour descendants as the stars of heaven and as the sand on the seashore--- (Gen.22. 15-17)”..

4. Will you turn and see if this is what Hebrews 6:13 18 is talking about?

5. It might do some of us good to ask ourselves the question, What would I have

done if I had been in the shoes of Abraham?

II. The Destruction of Sodom And Gomorrah

A. Ten Righteous People Would Have Saved This Terrible Scene Of Destruction.

1. The Lord had told Abraham, ‘The out cry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave (Gen. 18:20).”

2. Abraham knew that his nephew Lot and his family were in Sodom (Gui.13:1-13),and he pleaded, “Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked; wilt thou —-— not spare it for the fifty righteous who are in it (Gen. 18:23-25)?

3. The Lord answered, “I will spare the whole place for their sake (Gen. 18:25).” Abraham continued to reduce the number down to ten, and the Lord answered, “For the sake often I will not destroy it (Gen. 18:32).”

4. There were not ten righteous people in the cities, but the angels gave Lot and his family opportunity to escape. Lot’s wife looked back and “she became a pillar of salt (Gen. 19:12-26; Lu. 17:32).”

B. Think How Terrible This Scene May Have Been To Abraham.

1. “And Abraham went EARLY IN THE MORNING and beheld, and to, the smoke of the land went up like the smoke of a furnace (Gen. 19:27-28).” Gen. 19:29 says, “God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow.

2. Do you wonder if Lot and two of his daughters would have been saved had it not been for the prayers of Abraham (James 5:16-18)?

C. What Caused This Sad Scene Of Destruction?

1. Remember that the Lord said, “The outcry — is great and their sin is very grave (Gen. 18:20).”

2. What was the grave sin of the people of these cities? Does not Gen. 19:4-13 give the answer?

3. Jude v. 7 also reads, “Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, (KJV) “indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust” (NRSV), sexual immorality and perversion” (NIV), are set forth for an example suffering the vengeance of eternal life.”

4. You and I are either helping to save or destroy our nation! This also involves our eternal destiny. Who, thirty years ago, would have thought that the time would come when two major net works, CNN and ABC, would put on special programs to support and encourage the life style of the Gays like these networks did in April and May.