GOD PROVIDES
Ladies and gentlemen, God is the Great Provider to not only the Christian but also to the lost sinner. God’s grace and God’s mercy sustain this planet on which you and I live. One of the great verses in all the Bible is found in the Book of Philippians.
Philippians 4: 19
And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
If you are born-again, God will provide for your needs. He does not promise to provide what you want. He promises to provide for your needs, and there is a difference between wants and needs. God not only provides for the Christian, but He also provides for the sinner.
Matthew 5: 44-45
44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
The lost world reaps the benefits of God providing for the Christian. Even for the lost, the sun rises and the rain falls. God is the Great Provider. Today, we are going to look at God the Provider.
I. Jehovah-jireh: The Lord Will Provide
Jehovah-jireh means the Lord Will Provide. We know Jehovah is God, and that little hyphenated attachment, jireh, means to be concerned about. Dear friend, God is concerned with Mankind. God is the Creator, and the Creator is concerned with His Creation which is Mankind. Because of His concern, God provides. In the early pages of the Bible, we see that the Creator provides.
A. Provision in the Garden
Genesis 3: 21
Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.
Adam and Eve had sinned against God. They did what God had specifically told them not to do in His Word.
Genesis 2: 16-17
16 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
As the Creator, God created man with a free will to choose, but because the Creator was concerned about the Creation, He made it abundantly clear to Adam that if Adam did what God said not to do that Adam would die. Adam was created in the image of God. Adam was triune in nature. He was body, soul, and spirit. The soul and body were to be controlled by the Spirit of God who was living in Adam, but God gave Adam the freedom to choose, but Adam knew what God expected and demanded. He was without excuse just as you are without excuse.
Romans 1: 20
For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
God is so concerned about our well-being that even in our free will, He warns us of the consequences of our choices. God did not have to tell Adam, but, yet, He did have to tell Adam. Why? Because as Adam’s Creator, God was concerned about him. God, because He is concerned about us as Jehovah-jireh, has given us some warnings too.
Romans 6: 23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
John 8: 23-24
23 And He said to them, “You are from beneath; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”
Dear friend, God told Adam that if Adam sinned, Adam would die. God tells us that because we are sinners, we are going to die, and if we do not believe in Jesus Christ, we are going to die in our sins. Adam sinned, and the moment he did, Adam died spiritually as the Spirit of God left him without any hope. Adam, I believe, before he sinned did not know what dying was, but he just knew that it was serious because of the warning God gave, but as soon as he sinned, he knew what it meant to be dead. God’s spirit was no longer controlling Adam’s body and soul, but praise His holy name, God was concerned about Adam, and He provided the blood of an innocent sacrifice to cover Adam’s sin, and He did so to restore the relationship with the crown of His creation, Mankind.
Dear friend, Adam had sinned, and he was going to die physically, but God provided for Adam in order to restore that spiritual relationship because Adam believed God’s Word. What word did Adam believe? This is incredible because Adam had experienced spiritual death. He was waiting for the hammer of physical death to fall, but he believed God.
Genesis 3: 20-21
20 And Adam called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.21 Also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them.
Adam believed God’s promise to Eve about having children. How do I know he believed? Because he named Eve the mother of all living. Eve had no children, and if she were physically dead, I do not think she could have any, but God made a promise, and Adam believed that promise, and when Adam believed God’s Word, God provided a covering to restore that spiritual relationship. Jehovah-jireh!!!!! AMEN!!!!!!
B. Provision on Mount Moriah
Genesis 22: 1-5
1Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” 2 Then He said, “Take now 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.” 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place afar off. 5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.”
God spoke to Abraham by name, and Abraham answered the Lord’s call. AMEN!!!! You are familiar with the story. God told Abraham to take Isaac, the child of promise, and offer him as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. As you know, there were several types of offerings in the Levitical Law. The burnt offering was to be a continual offering in that it was to be offered every morning and every evening.
Exodus 29: 42-43
42 This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak with you. 43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by My glory.
The purpose of the burnt offering was for propitiation and consecration of the worshipper to the Lord. God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac to reconcile Abraham to God and to totally consecrate Abraham to serving God, and Abraham had the faith to do it. Abraham was willing to give all he had to have a right relationship with God. Dear friend, that is what is keeping many people away from what God wants to provide them today. So many are not willing to give everything to God, and until you get to that point, you are never going to realize what all God wants to provide for you. God wants it all. As harsh as it sounds, God demands that we surrender all to him. We cannot hold anything from Him if we want to receive what He is willing to provide. Jesus said it like this.
Luke 14: 26
“If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers, and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”
Isaac meant the world to Abraham, but Abraham was willing to sacrifice Isaac to satisfy God. Today, however, too many sacrifice God to satisfy something or someone else. I want you to see something. I want you to notice that Abraham knew God would provide. Abraham knew Jehovah-jireh. I hope you do.
Genesis 22: 5-8
5 And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back to you.” 6 So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them went together. 7 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” 8 And Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering.” So the two of them went together.
The Book of Hebrews explains Abraham’s attitude and faith even further.
Hebrews 11: 17-19
17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18 of whom it was said, “In Isaac your seed shall be called,” 19 concluding that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead, from which he also received him in a figurative sense.
Abraham had the faith to do what God asked him to do because he had the faith to believe God’s Word, and dear friend, do not get liberal with your interpretation of these verses because liberality denies Abraham’s faith and God’s demands. Abraham was going to do what God told him to do, and if he actually had to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham had the faith to believe that God would bring Isaac back to life. Why? Because God had said ISAAC was the child of promise.
Galatians 4: 28
Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
Isaac was the child of promise, and when Abraham was about to offer him as a burnt offering, Isaac was but a lad. He had no children, but Abraham believed what God promised. Abraham had the faith to believe because Abraham knew what God says God means. Dear friend, you and I would be so much better off if we were more like Abraham. If we would have the faith to be willing to give it all up because God provides.
“Jimmy, you know Abraham was not going to sacrifice Isaac. You know God would not expect that.” Really? I do believe that because that is what God’s Word says if you believe God’s Word without attaching some liberal interpretation to it. Look at what the Bible says.
Genesis 22: 9-14
9 Then they came to the place of which God had told him. And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order; and he bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, upon the wood. 10 And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. 11 But the Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” So he said, “Here I am.” 12 And He said, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, or do anything to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” 13 Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and there behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of the place, The-Lord-Will-Provide; as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
Picture the scene. Abraham is well over 100 years old. He is probably walking with a staff as he struggles to gather the wood for the altar. As he finishes piling up the wood, he binds his son to the altar. Isaac was just a young lad. He could have resisted and escaped. He could have overtaken Abraham, but he did not because he submitted to his father’s authority. Does that sound familiar?
Matthew 26: 42
Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done.”
John 10: 28-30
28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand. 30 I and My Father are one.”
Dear friend, there were thousands of angels looking over the ramparts of heaven awaiting Christ to give the command to come get Him off the Cross, but that command was never going to come because Jesus lay down His life to fulfill what the Father was willing to provide, and Isaac submitted to Abraham in the same way. As Isaac was lying there, Abraham took the knife in his shaking, wrinkled, arthritic hand and raised it to thrust it into the quivering chest of Isaac, and even at that point, Abraham knew God would provide.
Suddenly, as Abraham readied himself to plunge the knife deep into Isaac’s chest, the Angel of the Lord, I personally believe to be Jesus Christ, called from heaven, and once again Abraham answered.
“Here am I Lord”
And the Lord told Abraham not to harm Isaac. Abraham’s faith had passed the test. Abraham was not willing to put anything before the Lord. At one point in his life, Abraham had put many things before the Lord, but not now. He knew everything belonged to God, and he was not going to keep anything, even Isaac, from God. Then suddenly, as Christ finished speaking, Abraham looked and saw a ram caught in a thicket of thorns, and Abraham named the place, Jehovah-jireh, The Lord Will Provide. That innocent ram caught in a thicket of thorns was sacrificed that day, and the Bible adds an interesting little note.
Genesis 22: 14b
“as it is said to this day, “In the Mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
AMEN AND HALLELUJAH!!!!!
2,000 years later in that very spot on the Mountain of the Lord another Lamb was sacrificed. Instead of being trapped in a thicket of thorns, this Lamb submitted Himself and a crown of thorns was placed on His head. No one could take this Lamb’s life. He submitted Himself to become God’s provision for sin. There was no other way. It had to be, and Jesus knew His destiny with the Cross before He was born in a manger, but He still came.
WHY? Because God is responsible for His Creation, and since God is responsible, only God could provide what the Creation needed. Since it was man being redeemed, Christ had to lay aside His glory and come to earth as a man to redeem man. He had to come as a man to be man’s kinsman redeemer. Dear friend, Jehovah-jireh!!!! God provides.
Listen to me, dear friend, God cannot overlook sin, and your sin was either pardoned on Calvary, or your sin will be punished in hell. There is nothing else God can do. His Son took your sin to Calvary and became the Lamb substituted for you just as that ram caught in the thicket was substituted for Isaac. Jesus took the responsibility for your sin to Calvary, and God completely judged your sin that day, but if you reject God’s provision, you have a debt to pay. And dear friend, you have nothing that can settle that debt, and since you cannot pay for your sin debt, you have an eternal debt that will be settled in hell. Only the blood of Christ can settle your debt, and God provided that, and Christ submitted to the Father’s will, and the Holy Spirit is convicting you of your debt as I finish. Do you want to be pardoned or punished? Jehovah-jireh!!!
John 3: 16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
I hope you have made the choice to taste of the salvation God has offered you. If you have not, why wait? Christ went through hell so you could get to heaven, but you must admit that you are a sinner, repent from a sinner’s lifestyle, believe that God raised Jesus from the grave, and confess Jesus as Lord before man. When you do that, you will want to follow through in obedience and be baptized to a new life and become an active member of a spirit-filled church. If you have questions, leave them in the comments section, and I will attempt to answer them, or I will find someone who can.