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Author: Pastor Matt

The Son God Did Not Spare

Written by Pastor Matt on . Posted in Uncategorized.

A young boy carrying wood up a mountain turns to his father and asks the question that must have pierced Abraham’s heart like a knife: “Where is the lamb?” He did not know he was walking toward the answer. And in a way, neither did the rest of the world — not for centuries — until a hill outside Jerusalem told the rest of the story.

That moment in Genesis 22 is one of the most breathtaking passages in all of Scripture. It is not simply a story about Abraham’s obedience, though his faith is staggering. It is God preaching the gospel before the cross ever stands — telling the story of His Son in advance, in real people and real events, so that we would recognize the Son when He finally came.

The Beloved Son

God’s word to Abraham in Genesis 22 is striking in how personal it is:

“Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love…” (Genesis 22:2)

The language is deliberate. Your son. Your only son. Whom you love. Isaac stands in this account as the son of promise, set apart, beloved. And that language prepares us for a voice that breaks through the sky over the Jordan River:

“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17)

Before Christ is revealed as the Lamb, He is first revealed as the Beloved Son. The Father’s love for the Son makes what happens at the cross all the more astonishing — not that God was indifferent, but that God loved, and still did not spare Him.

The Willing Son

There is a detail in Genesis 22 that is easy to pass over:

“So Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son…” (Genesis 22:6)

The son carries the wood. The son walks up the mountain. There is no record of resistance. And when we trace that image forward to Christ, we see the pattern fulfilled — and fulfilled at tremendous cost. Christ carries the wood of the cross. He stumbles under its weight. He agonizes in the garden and cries out to the Father:

“Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42)

He is not numb to what is coming. He is not indifferent. He feels the full weight of it. And He chooses it anyway. When the soldiers come for Him in the garden, His answer is clear:

“Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?” (John 18:11)

Christ was willing — not because the cross was easy, but because obedience was greater than escape. That willingness is part of what makes His sacrifice so humbling to consider.

The Substitute Who Stands in Our Place

At the moment when Abraham raises the knife, God provides a ram caught in a thicket:

“There behind him was a ram caught in a thicket… and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son.” (Genesis 22:13)

Instead of his son. That is the heart of substitution. The ram dies so Isaac lives. And in Christ, that picture reaches its full and final meaning:

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be a sin offering for us…” (2 Corinthians 5:21)

Christ does not merely receive punishment. He is offered. He is given. He stands in the place where we deserved to stand, and He does not move.

The Lamb Who Was Always the Plan

After the ram is offered, Abraham names the place with words that echo across all of Scripture:

“And Abraham called the name of the place, The-LORD-Will-Provide.” (Genesis 22:14)

The ram was not provided because Isaac had earned it. It was provided because God purposed redemption. And the Lamb of God was not God’s emergency response to a situation that got out of hand. He was always the plan:

“The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Revelation 13:8)
“Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29)

When John the Baptist said those words, he was pointing to something that had been coming since Genesis — the Seed of the Woman, purposed to redeem mankind from death and sin.

What This Means for You Today

Romans 8:32 brings it all together with quiet, stunning force:

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all…” (Romans 8:32)

The Son was not spared — so that we could be.

If you come to the Lord’s Table, come remembering the Beloved Son who was given freely. Come trusting the Willing Son who chose obedience when He could have chosen escape. Come resting in the Substitute who stands in your place. And come rejoicing in the Provided Lamb — because He was never an afterthought. He was always, from the very beginning, God’s gift to a world that desperately needed Him.

Adapted from the message “The Son who was not Spared”, preached February 1, 2026 by – Pastor Matt at Charity Baptist Church.

God Did Not Come to Take Your Side

Written by Pastor Matt on . Posted in Pilgrim's Progress.

There is a question you should never ask God. Joshua asked it anyway.

He had every reason to ask it. Jericho was in front of him — walls he had no equipment to breach, a city he had been commanded to take. He was walking the ground the way any commander does, measuring what stood between him and the morning. And then there was a Man with a sword already drawn. So Joshua asked the soldier’s question: whose side are you on?

And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, “Are You for us or for our adversaries?” — Joshua 5:13

It is a fair question for a soldier. It is the wrong question for a servant. And the answer he got was not what he expected.

The Answer Was No

Joshua offered two options. The Commander took neither.

“No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” — Joshua 5:14

One word. Not indecision — contradiction. He refused Joshua’s categories entirely. Joshua commands Israel’s army. He has just met his superior.

Now hear this carefully, because without it this whole thing goes sideways. This is not divine neutrality. Jericho really does fall. The Commander is not undecided about the outcome. God had already said plainly to Joshua:

“Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9

The “no” was not “no, I am not with you.” It was “no, I refuse the categories you just handed Me.” God was at work on Jericho long before Joshua arrived with an opinion about it. Being right and being in command are two entirely different things.

That is how people who hold true doctrine end up fighting like unbelievers. Your danger is not being wrong. It is being right, and assuming that settles who gives the orders.

The Question That Changes Everything

Here is the turn, and it is everything.

And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so. — Joshua 5:14b–15

Put the two questions side by side. “Are You for us?” Then: “What does my Lord say to His servant?” Same man. Same encounter. Two questions — and the distance between them is the whole Christian life.

And notice who this Commander actually is. Joshua worships, and the worship is received. Angels refuse it — Scripture is explicit about that. Then comes the same word Moses heard at the burning bush:

“Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.” — Exodus 3:5

This is not an angel with a message. This is the Lord of hosts, standing in the dirt outside Jericho. And the very first order He gives is not a battle plan. It is take off your sandals. Before Joshua receives the strategy, Joshua must settle who is in command.

Worship first. Orders second. In that order, and never reversed.

The Orders He Never Would Have Written Himself

The chapter break between Joshua 5 and 6 hides something important. Joshua 5 ends with a man face down, sandals off. Joshua 6 opens with the LORD speaking — and the battle plan follows.

“See! I have given Jericho into your hand, its king, and the mighty men of valor.” — Joshua 6:2

Then read what the orders actually were. March around the city for seven days. Blow horns. Shout. No siege ramp. No battering ram. No strategy any commander on earth would put his name to. The man who asked whose side God was on spent the next week doing something that looked like foolishness to everyone watching from the wall.

That is usually what obedience looks like from the outside.

And notice the mercy in it. Jericho was already given — past tense, before a single lap was walked. The marching did not earn the city. It received what had already been won.

Stop Asking for Endorsement

Think of the fight you are in right now. The argument. The person you have been rehearsing your answer to. The battle you are certain you are on the right side of.

Do not drop it. Joshua did not drop his sword. He took Jericho the very next week.

But before you say another word about it — stop asking God to bless the plan you already made. Ask Joshua’s second question instead.

“What does my Lord say to His servant?” — Joshua 5:14

Face down. Sandals off. And then get up and do what He actually said — not what you had already planned to do anyway.

God does not enlist. He commands. And the good news is that the city He is asking you to trust Him with has already been given.

Adapted from the message “Looking for Jesus in the Old Testament · Types of Christ”, preached September 13, 2026 by – Pastor Matt at Charity Baptist Church.