"The Only Begotten Son"

 "By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son," (Hebrews 11:17 KJV) 

  "Some time later, God tested Abraham's faith. "Abraham!" God called. "Yes," he replied. "Here I am." "Take your son, your only son - yes, Isaac, whom you love so much - and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you."" (Genesis 22:1-2 KJV)

  As we all know, Abraham did have another son, who was named, Ishmael. As it was, God did bless him, telling his mother, Hagar, "Go to him and comfort him, for I will make a great nation from his descendants." Even though God did bless the older son, that son was not the one that was the son of promise, but the making from the work of man, not the power of God! 

 However, as I have said before, God used the mistake of Abraham's choice to listen to his wife, as a tool to save the whole family of Jacob, in a time of a very serious famine. Even still, Isaac was the son of the promise, which is why God used the term, "only begotten son." 

 I really don't know how else to put this, except that God is able to forgive our mistakes! This is really the whole point of what makes people doubt God's forgiveness, because even though He forgives, we have a really hard time forgiving ourselves. 

 Last night Pastor Bryan was sharing about Paul's statement from Philippians 3:13, as he said, 'Paul has not forgotten; but is not letting those things of the past, interfere with what he does today." Or, saying, something of that nature! We must completely and truly believe in the cross of Christ, that all of our sins have been completely forgiven! 

 When Jesus died on that cross, He took upon Himself the sins of the entire world; even those from the very beginning to the very end; there was no one who's sins were not paid for on that cross! Yet, it is a free gift of salvation that must be received in order for it to work...

""For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. "There is no judgement against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son."" (John 3:16-18 NLT)