Sunday Sermon | Easter 2026: The Ultimate Sacrifice

What does God actually require of you—and what if the answer changes everything?

In this powerful Easter message from Genesis 22, we walk through the story of Abraham and Isaac—a moment that feels almost too heavy to bear. But this story is not ultimately about what Abraham gives. It’s about what God provides.

At the center of the Bible is a single question: Where is the lamb?
And at the center of Easter is the answer.

This sermon helps you see how:

God tests faith in ways that stretch understanding
Abraham trusted God’s promises even when the outcome seemed impossible
The story of Isaac points directly to Jesus
God is not like false gods who demand—He provides
Jesus is the Lamb who takes our place and opens the way to God

Scripture References:
Genesis 22
John 3:16

If this message helped you better understand the Gospel, share it with someone who needs hope.

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Transcript

Easter Welcome And The Big Question

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Well, happy Easter, church family. He is risen. Alright, well, let me uh introduce myself. If you're a guest with us, my name is Jason Smith. I'm the pastor here of First Baptist. And let me just say from this perspective, all of you look amazing. You look your Easter best. And that includes the overflow. Thank you for coming. God bless you. Turn everything in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 22. Genesis chapter 22 and hold your spot there because we're going to walk through this account. An account that's familiar to a lot of you. Okay. If you do not have a Bible, there is a Bible in the Purec in front of you, and you can keep that as a gift from us to you. We want you to have a copy of God's word. We would be privileged if you would keep that. Now this morning, uh we're gonna we're gonna journey 2,000 years before Jesus into a story orchestrated by God. A story so weighty and unsettling that it's gonna make you anxious to even listen to it. But at the center of that story is a question that every one of us must answer. What must I bring to come into God's presence? What would God require of you? Now, by the end of this story, everything that we assume about that question is turned upside down. Because this account reveals the very heart of God. This account reveals that whatever God requires, He provides himself. So before we begin, let me ask you a question. If God speaks to you this day through his word, will you surrender to him? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you for this Easter Sunday. The celebration, King Jesus, of your resurrection from the dead, the proof that you are the Son of God and that you have atoned for our sins for all who have believed in you. Father, I pray if there's anyone today under the sound of my voice that does not know you, that today would be the day of salvation. God, open our eyes and our ears to understand more fully your love for us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Imagine your entire life sitting in the palm of your hand. Your health, your loved ones, your job, all your stuff. Is your hand open or closed? Because we say, God, everything is yours, but the moment that he reaches for something, our hands tighten. Let's be honest. Every one of us has a breaking point where we quietly say, God, not that. Now imagine God asking for it. Because the truth is he could. He owns it all. Everything that we have is from him and through him and to him, which means nothing that we hold is ultimately ours. In the passage that we're going to look at this morning, shockingly, God asks for it all. The ultimate sacrifice. God asks Abraham for the one thing that he loves the most. His son. Listen, as I read. Now it came about after these things that God tested Abraham. And he said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. God said, Take now your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you. Isaac was his miracle son, the heir that God had promised when there was no heir. See, God had told Abraham that his descendants would outnumber the stars. God had promised that every nation on earth would be blessed through him. But God gave that promise when Abraham was 75 and had no children. And so Abraham waited. Not one, not five, but twenty-five years. Abraham would agree with us that our timing is not God's timing. Now, eventually, at the end of that, finally, when Abraham is a hundred and Sarah is ninety, God gave them the promised son Isaac. And now he is a young boy, probably thirteen or fourteen, when God says to him, Take your son, your only son whom you love, Isaac, and offer him. Now, if we're honest, this is the moment where the story becomes almost unbearable. Because everything in us says, that is too much. God, that is impossible. As a father, I can only imagine Abraham's mind racing. God, take me instead. I am an old man. He is all I have. You have promised him, and he is my everything. And then another thought hits. What happens when I come home without him? Sarah will be crushed. God, we love him more than we love ourselves. Now here's what's shocking: the text gives us none of that. No argument, no hesitation, no recorded protest. Simply Abraham's obedience. And then we're left with the question: how? How does a man walk forward into the ultimate sacrifice? And what could he possibly be thinking that would allow him to obey? Friend, hold on to this moment. Don't rush past it. Because if we misunderstand this, we misunderstand the entire account. Is this going to be about the man who gave everything to God? Or is it about something more? So Abraham rose early in the morning, and he saddled his donkey, and he took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and he split wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. He gets up early. I don't imagine he slept much. And he gets right to it. He begins chopping wood for the offering. Can you imagine what's going through his mind with every swing of the axe? Every step, every action is bringing him closer towards that which is unbearable. And yet he keeps going. This is the first step of faith. And the first step of faith is always the hardest. Because real faith is tested whenever things don't make sense. Not whenever they do make sense. And don't forget, Abraham isn't perfect. His life is marked by failure, compromise, moments when he didn't trust God. And so you can't help but wonder, is this what God requires to atone for our sin? Is this what it takes to be right with him in order to come into his presence? And then we're told that God had a specific location picked out, that Abraham had to journey to Mount Moriah. The only other time that name is mentioned in the scripture is in 2 Chronicles chapter 3, verse 1. You see, that is the place that Solomon will eventually build his temple in Jerusalem. The place where sacrifices will be made, day after day, year after year, for the sins of the people. But long before the temple and long before the system, God brings Abraham right there to that very spot to ask for the ultimate sacrifice. Friend, what does God require of you in order to come into his presence? On the third day, Abraham raised his eyes and he saw the place from a distance. For three days he walks with his son, the son that he had waited twenty-five years for. Three days to think, knowing what lies ahead. The text tells us almost nothing. No conversations, no questions, just silence. What keeps a man walking when every step gets heavier? Because let's be honest, three days is plenty of time to turn around. Okay? Plenty of time to rethink, to say, I must have misunderstood God. But Abraham doesn't turn back. And on the third day, he raises his eyes and he sees the place that has been appointed by God. And now there is no distance left. Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. And I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship, and we will return to you. From this point forward, it can only be Abraham and Isaac. They have arrived at the mountain of God, and they must ascend it alone. And for the first time in a while, Abraham speaks. And if you listen carefully, you realize something. He believes more than what we've been told. We will worship and we will return. Not I will return, we will return. See, that is not confusion or denial, that is faith. Somehow Abraham believes that even if Isaac dies, God will still keep his promise. Because God had made the promise through Isaac, and Abraham knows God keeps his promises. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. And so the two of them walked on together. You see, the son carries the wood on which he will be offered. Walking up the mountain towards his own sacrifice. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father, and said, My father, and he said, Here I am, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? You see, Isaac knows why they've come. They've come to worship God, to enter into his presence. And Isaac knows something else. Sinners do not come empty-handed. There must be a sacrifice. We have the fire, we have the wood. Where is the lamb? His question cuts through everything and hangs in the air. It demands an answer. But it's not just Isaac's question. It is the question of the entire Bible. Where is the lamb? And Abraham's answer is a shockwave of faith. In fact, it reveals what he has believed all along. Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son. See, Abraham isn't guessing. He isn't hoping that things work out. He knows God. I know who he is. I know his character. He is not like the pagan gods that must be appeased, who demand but never give. No, no, no. God is holy and he is righteous. And if there is ever going to be a sacrifice that he truly accepts, then he must provide it. Because the way into his presence is not what we bring to him, but what he provides for us. My son, God will provide for himself the lamb. Because that's who my God is. Even though Abraham cannot see a lamb, he trusts in God's character to provide. And when they get to the top of the mountain, there's no resistance, there's no recorded protest, just trust. A son who trusts his father. And Abraham binds him and lays him on the wood. The wood that Isaac carried up the mountain. And then Abraham reaches out his hand and grabs the knife. See, this is the moment where faith is pushed to its breaking point because he raises the knife to slay his son. Abraham. Abraham, an angel, interrupts. And he said, Here I am. Do not lay your hand upon the boy. Do not harm him. For now I know that you fear God, seeing as you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. At the very last moment, God stops him. The knife never falls. The son is spared. Isaac will live. And look at verse 13. Abraham lifts his eyes, and behold, behind him is a ram that is caught in the thicket by its horns. You know, it didn't wander up there. God provided. And Abraham went and took the ram. And he offered it up instead of his son. In his place, the son goes free. Because the lamb takes his place. God will provide for himself the lamb. And now listen to the culmination of the entire account. You have to see this. Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide. As it is said, to this day, and the mount of the Lord, it will be provided. Don't miss this. Because God's love orchestrated this very moment, because this story has been pointing to a greater one all along. Because nearly two thousand years later, another son comes. God's son. And he rides into Jerusalem on a donkey. And he walks up this mountain, carrying the wood on his back. And like Isaac, he is laid down. But unlike Isaac, there's no voice from heaven crying, stop. The Father does not spare his son. The knife falls. The ultimate sacrifice is made. What was inconceivable for you, God did for you. Because this time, the Son is the Lamb. The Lamb provided by God because he loves you. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Friend, let me tell you another true story. During the Great Depression, there was a man named John Griffith who operated a railroad drawbridge over the Mississippi River. And one day in 1937, during the summer, he brought his eight-year-old son with him to work one day. And it was about noon, and they sat for lunch, and the river was far beneath them. They enjoyed the breeze. When suddenly John heard a whistle of an approaching train. He looks at his watch. 107, it is the Memphis Express with 400 passengers that is rapidly approaching, approaching a drawbridge that is still raised. John, in a panic, in a hurry, he runs to the control tower. And right as he's about to press the lever, he notices out of the corner of his eye that his son has slipped and fallen and is caught in the massive gears of the bridge. There isn't time. Does he save his son or the 400 passengers on the train? And John knows what he must do. He buries his head in his arm and he pushes the lever. And as the drawbridge closes, it crushes his son. Just in time as the train roars past. And John looked up at the window of the train as people passed, and he could see that they were reading the newspaper, that they were eating, that they were laughing. And no one looked. No one cared that he had sacrificed his son. And John cried out at the train, do you not care that I sacrificed my son for you? Friend, is it nothing to you that God gave his son for you? Because here's the reality. One day soon you will stand before God. And the question will not be Were you a good person? The question will be, what did you do with my son? Will you stand there in your pride with all of your own effort, all of your own goodness, all of your attempts? Say, God, look at me, because you do not come empty-handed, but believe me, you cannot bring enough. But God provided for you. See, the question is not, have you done enough for God? The question is, do you trust in what God has done for you? Have you trusted in the Lamb who took your place? The amazing truth about Jesus' story is it doesn't end with his death. Just as Abraham believed that God would raise his son from the dead, three days later Jesus raised from the dead, proving that he is the Son of God, proving that his sacrifice is an atonement for your sin. Proving that the way to God is open. Because the Lamb has been provided. For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son. That whosoever believes in him will not perish, but will have eternal life. He has won my heart and captured my mind. He has chased down this rebel will and overcome my sinful nature. And he allows me, me, to stand in his presence. The one place that I am fully known. Whatever past troubles haunt you, whatever darkness lurks within, whatever fear you have that you will never be able to change, know this. Your sin does not intimidate Jesus. What's right in him far outweighs what is wrong in you. There is more grace in him than there is guilt in you. And he is better at saving than you are at sinning. So let me ask you one more time. If God's Spirit has spoken to you this morning through his word, will you surrender to him? Will you pray with me? If you are here this morning and you've never placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, would you cry out right now? Would you call upon his name? That is between you and God. Do it, friend. Cry out. Today is the day of salvation. Heavenly Father, we rejoice. We rejoice in the truth of your Son. You are our only hope. But in you, King Jesus, we are made whole. We praise you for that. We praise you for your sacrifice. There is no love like your love. And I pray that we would drink of it deeper still. You are worthy of all of our praise and adoration. King Jesus, it's in your name we pray. Amen.