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Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Alistair Huong

Are you at the place?

It's Sabbath first and Independence Day second, isn't it?

I actually woke up this morning and I found out it was 4th of July.

We look a little more intimate in this setting than Burden Hall.

Nobody gets to hide in the balcony anymore.

I've been here sort of incognito a few times, I don't know if you've noticed, but I haven't been here for a while before that.

And it's always good to be with you here at Avanthope.

Well, this morning, the title of our message is a question, a question that I have no answer for, at least no answer for you, but I sure hope you have an answer for.

So before we open God's word, let's bow our heads for prayer.

Father this morning as we spend a few thoughtful moments contemplating your word and the experiences of some faithful men in your word, I pray that we may find the answer to this question.

And more importantly, may you speak to our soul.

And when we leave this place, may we leave with the assurance that Jesus is living in our hearts and that he is the Lord of our lives.

In spite of the feeble dust maid servant that is speaking, may Jesus be heard and the Spirit touch us, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen.

We're going to look at a couple Bible passages in rapid fire, and I want you to think with me as we read these verses about the common thread that runs through them.

A couple more pages flipping in the back.

And he sought to see Jesus, who he was, and could not for the press, because he was little of stature.

And he ran before and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.

And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him and said unto him, Zacchaeus make haste and come down for today I must abide at thy house.

And he made haste and came down and received him joyfully.

Genesis chapter 22, also beginning in verse 1.

The Bible says, And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham, and he said unto him, Behold, here I am.

And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon 1 of the mountains, which I will tell thee of.' And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and took 2 of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and claimed the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up and went unto the place of which God had told him.

Then on the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off.

And Abraham said unto his young man, Abide ye here with the donkey, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and they went, both of them together.

And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My father!

And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.

And they came to the place which God had told him of.

And Abraham built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

And the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham.

And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou anything unto him, for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me.

Exodus chapter 3, also beginning in verse 1.

And he led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the mountain of God even to Horeb.

And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush.

And he looked and behold the bush burned with fire And the bush was not consumed.

And Moses said, I will now turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses, Moses, and he said, Here am I.

And he said, Draw not nigh hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

Faithful men that are recorded in scripture, each of them, where do we find them?

What's the difference between the word a and the word the?

If I say, I went to a place, does that tell you anything?

It's nonspecific, it's nebulous, it's sort of like he just went somewhere.

But when I said I went to the place, it's a specific point in time or location.

And the place for Zacchaeus, Abraham, and Moses was the place where God met them.

And do you think God knew that Zacchaeus was gonna be in that tree that day?

Do you think Jesus knew that even before he became incarnate man.

Do you think God knew that on that faithful day, Moses was going to be walking past that bush on Mount Horeb?

Do you think God knew that he was going to make an appointment with Abraham to meet him on Mount Moriah with his son on that faithful morning?

If God knew And God made an appointment specifically to be on time at the place to meet his appointment.

Do you think God has made an appointment to meet you at the place?

Do you think God in His infinite wisdom, in His omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence would care to have set time aside in His calendar for you?

For Abraham, it was before an altar with his son bound upon it on Mount Moriah.

For Moses, it was in the desert on the backside of the wilderness before a burning bush.

I don't know, but I just know that He wants to meet you there.

Let's think about these 3 characters for a moment.

For Zacchaeus, what did it mean to meet Jesus at the place?

Let's think about Zacchaeus The place was underneath or at that tree It was the place where he Met Jesus as his savior for the first time.

For Zacchaeus, it was the place of salvation.

The Bible tells us he was a publican, a chief of the publicans, and if that's not enough, he was rich, filthy rich.

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