Main idea: Believing God who provides will ensure you pass your tests of faith.
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Well, good morning, brothers and sisters. It's good to see you this morning. It's good to see visitors. I see a handful of visitors here also, and it's a joy to have new people coming. We would want to serve you any way we can. I would love to do that. You can connect with me here out in the foyer, as well as the other great servants at Faith, Bible, church, uh, couple things before we get into Genesis, 22 dot Simon did go home to be with the Lord this week. Wednesday morning, I got a text from Stephanie saying that she has gone to glory. Dave was here, her husband of 56 years, was here first hour many of you saw him on the way through. And Monday, when I went to pray with them, he just wanted to see his dear one without the suffering, and like pray that God would just go ahead and take her. That happened early Wednesday a couple weeks ago, when Nathan and I went up and visited the signs. Love to sing, and they can sing. We sang with them. They had all these hymns in their hearts. They've been singing all the way. And now she is singing in glory. She has graduated into Christ's presence. Pray for Dave and the transition for Stephanie, who's among us, and others who the rest of their family, we know lots of of the extended family, so we want to pray for them. As as we get started here, we're going to be reading from Genesis 22 and just before I do read that, we're going to stand and read that before I do just a couple of quick things to say. I don't know of a passage in the Bible that has more emotional gut punch other than the crucifixion. I mean, the story from Jesus agony in Gethsemane all the way to his breathing. His last breath is the most gripping. This is number two. Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son. So what you'll notice is the absence of the agony. Like it's an interesting thing when you read it. Second thing is, with that, I remember years back when we were writing the generations of grace curriculum, when I was at Grace Community Church, we had the I had the privilege of being a part of that first year's curriculum, and Chad fry drew the picture of Abraham raising his hand to slaughter, and Chad did his best in a cartoon type coloring page to capture the emotion. Our kids have all used it, and they use generations of grace. We do that here, but you have to imagine what this is like now, given that, let's go ahead and stand for the reading of God's word. This is the call of Abraham to to sacrifice Isaac, and I'm going to read 22 one through 19. If you're new with us, here's our tradition. I say this is the word of the Lord, and you all say thanks be to God, because we're thankful. God gives us His Word, we are so thankful. After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, Take 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 so, Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey. I And the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. And 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 they went, both of them together. Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, he said, Here I am my son. He said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide for himself, the lamb for a burnt offering, my son. So they went, both of them together when they came near to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there, laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. And. That Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place The LORD Will Provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven as the sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring shall shall possess the gates of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham lived at Beersheba. This is the word of the Lord God. We thank you and praise you our holy and transcendent father. You are far above. You are most high. And we read a passage with those feelings of reverence and wonder and emotional challenge, Abraham was asked to do the greatest, most difficult thing, and he believed you and trusted you. We, we are immediately compelled, as we read to wonder about what went on here. So I pray that you, by your Spirit, would help me as I explain and apply, help us as we hear and listen, to be attentive, to have your spirits illumination, Holy Spirit. We need you. You have revealed this word to us. We need you to understand it, and then we need to apply it. We are also called and compelled about our loves. What is our first love? Wanting you to be the center and the highest of our affections. I pray that you would be at work. Dave Syme has just crossed a major test of faith, watching the home going of dear dot, give him comfort, encouragement, strength. The same with with Stephanie and Jen and Kim, the daughters, their husbands, their the kids, grand kids. God, I pray for great comfort as as Dave goes through the Dark Hour of being a widower. Many are here like that now, give him courage and encouragement. We pray for our churches, brother and sister churches, Sister churches across the city. I think of Lampstand Church, which we have prayed for often now, without a pastor processing their future, give them wisdom. Chris tornquist is preaching as I speak. Give him your wisdom and clarity as he preaches and as he supplies the pulpit. God we want all the churches across our city, everybody who names Christ as Lord to be faithful, to proclaim the whole counsel of God as we try to do that here today. Bless these efforts that you would be magnified in Christ's name. Amen, you may be seated. Chapter 22 gives us the first official in quotes, test of faith in the Bible. I say official because it's not that there have not been tests along the way, Noah was given a test, build an ark. Take 100 years to do it, get all the animals on. I mean, that was a test. Abraham has had a series of tests. But here the phrase test sets the whole event, squarely in our view, after these things, God tested Abraham, the father of our faith, was given a massively difficult command as an example of faith, sacrifice your son, your only son, whom you love. He was commanded to give up one of the greatest loves of his life, Ian
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faith. This is an act of worship. Will you obey God when he asks what seems too hard or impossible? Ian. God? Will you obey God when he asks what seems too hard or impossible? The answer to that question is going to lay bare who you think God is, what His promises really mean, what you believe about His provision for life, for his creatures. Does your worship of the one true God have more love and devotion to Him than the precious things he gives us in this life? God gives us, a great many people, family to love. Human love is a gift of God, but there is human love and there is worship love, and only God deserves worship. Love, ultimate high and any time, any love for something here, including the people we love, competes, God is going to call us to realign our loves. You will throughout your life come across many tests of faith. You're going to need to trust Christ's work on the cross, not your own efforts. That's a major crisis of faith. How do I enter eternal life? Is it by my efforts? No, you're going to need to trust Christ's work on the cross alone. You're gonna need to say no to lusts. You're going to need to serve God and neighbor instead of yourself. You're gonna have to serve in your family when you don't feel like it. You're gonna have classmates. You might have teachers or professors who from the lectern ridicule your faith. You may suffer singleness, infertility, the death of a child, dementia, or a loved one with it, or some other disease, and your devotion to God, will it strengthen or will it falter? Will it strengthen or will it falter? I bet every person in the room wants it to strengthen, not falter. How do we do that? How do we how do we face the trials and tests of our faith in a way that produces growth, maturity, stability. It's really simple. Here, Abraham gives it in his naming of the location believing God who provides will ensure you pass your tests of faith. God and His provision, his promises and his provision, your faith in him and what he has said he will do, are going to be key. They were key for Abraham, the stakes are high. The stakes are high those who do not believe God, who provides God and His promises, they destabilize. They forfeit soul satisfying intimacy with God. They make false gods out of the stuff in their life. When they choose the stuff in their life or a person in their life over God, they they trust in do nothing gods as Psalm 115 would say, some prove by persistent disobedience over time that they never had real faith in the first place, and the great tests of faith often reveal that. But those who pass the tests, those who pass the test of faith, find an intimacy with God and a reward that far outweighs the sacrifice. Those who pass the test find stronger and steadfast love, steadfast faith than they've had before, and they make a powerful impact on future generations. People have their eyes on you. People have their eyes on you. They want to know if the God that you say you worship is real to you. Not just when everything's going great, but when the tests are peculiar and painful difficult, you actually make the most impact at those times, the rewards are great. We see it at the end of the passage. So how do we do this? I'm gonna break down the passage into four parts. Consider God's test. Address your loves. God addresses Abraham's love. Focus on God's promises and his provision, and then finally, rejoice in the reward. There is a great reward for those who trust God in faith. So let's take a look at this first one. Consider God's test. Consider God's test. God tests our faith for our growth, for our intimacy with. Him and for our impact, and we trust His provision as we obey challenging commands, and we're able to be used by God in harder ways. This is the whole impact of the story. It opens up in 22 one, after these things. God tested Abraham. The after these things, what it's connected to. It's connected with 21 the after these things that these things had to do with something really remarkable. Sarah and Abraham finally got the baby of their of their dreams, after waiting 25 years for the promise, Sarah gets pregnant, has baby. They name him Isaac, laughter, joy. The end of the chapter, all the promises are coming true. You would like to put in 23 I'm sorry, 2135 you would like to write this. You would add a verse to the Bible, which is a bad idea, but just follow my point. And Abraham sojourned many days in the land of Philistines and lived happily ever after all the greatest stories, the hero gets home or gets the blessing, And then the real challenge happens. That's what happens here. The real challenge happens after these things. God tested. Abraham, the word test, or the idea of test, is not the idea of tempting to sin. God isn't testing in the sense of putting out a sin, to go after this idea of testing is to discern a quality, to lay it bare, to open it up and see what's on the inside, to check for quality and character. It's to put something to refining work to purify it. Abraham's faith is being tested. He's not being tempted to sin. God wants to display to you and to me, to everybody who's come after this, what was in Abraham's heart. Got to remember this is true for anybody on earth, especially for those who follow the Lord Jesus, the Apostle James, says this, count it all joys, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, he has a whole bunch in the book of James. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. It is true for every believer, there are challenges, trials, difficulties that are a test of faith, so that what is inside may be manifested or may grow. So what's exactly being tested? What's being tested at your trial, what's being tested here for Abraham, your belief in who God says He is, your belief in who God says He is, that he is your supreme good. His will is your best reality, and he not what he gives is your greatest treasure. What's being tested your belief in who God says He is, that he is your supreme good, that His will is your best reality, that he not what he gives is your supreme treasure. Abraham had just been given Isaac, and his name is Isaac, laughter, joy. It shows, just in the name, the joy that Sarah and Abraham are experiencing.
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He is being called to sacrifice him. The apostle Paul in Romans, 420, and 21 you can just write the numbers down and look them up later, refers back to this about Abraham. No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, fully convinced that God was able to do what He had promised. So this wasn't for Abraham alone. Paul says it's for. Our faith, also the father of our faith sets an example of faith for us. So all the way to the end of your life, God will address what you really trust. I hate to tell you that when you're 23 and you face a great trust, a great, great trial, and you finally have come through at 23 get ready more is to come. Abraham is 100 100 actually, the boy is probably 18. He's like 116 120 You mean to tell me that I have not faced it all already, and I'm 75 and there could be harder to come. I am telling you that, not predicting it. I'm not a prophet. Abraham was 115 120 at this time. God wanted something. God wanted to reveal something. What do you think your test of faith is right now? Here you are, Sunday morning, 2025 What's your test? Where are you going to have to trust and believe God? Where's something that's really hard that he could call you to do that seems impossible to you, and you're gonna have to say, I am going to trust him. We'll look at how Abraham trusts him in a second. Let's get to the heart of the matter for Abraham and for us number two. So first, consider trials. Second, address your great loves. God targets our great loves with his tests of faith. He certainly does it for Abraham here, after these things. God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am. He said, notice this, take your son, your only son, whom you love. I mean, a son would be hard enough, the only son now that Ishmael has been sent out. Ishmael has his own story, and God has his own plan for Ishmael. God wants to the line that runs to Jesus to run through. Isaac. He is the special person of the inheritance, your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love. I mean, when he pulls back the arrow, he doesn't pull back for a little 20 yard shot. I mean, he is going all the way in
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to the deepest affections that Abraham can have, increasing penetration your son, your only son, whom you love, Abraham, is called to take him to Moriah. Most scholars see this as near present day Jerusalem, or in present day Jerusalem. Some have even said that there was a mount in Moriah that was where Solomon built his temple. So many scholars think that it is at the very place where Solomon's temple was built. Go to Moriah from Beersheba. It's a three day, two to three day walk with the donkey and the people who went with him. But make no mistake about what this was. He says, offer him as a burnt offering. Isaac is to be a complete and total offering back to his maker. And I don't want you to make any mistake how this would have sounded. False gods in the ancient Near East often called for child sacrifices. So it's not until Leviticus, 1821 that there is a prohibition against child sacrifices. Abraham wouldn't necessarily know that God wasn't asking for this. And a burnt offering meant bringing the sacrificial animal near the altar, slitting its throat, letting the blood pour out, skinning it, butchering it, putting all of the pieces on the pile of wood laid out, lighting them and burning it, until as only ashes a burnt offering was a total consuming of the animal. Ian now,
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many people wonder, if God forbid it later, Why can he require it here? The Bible doesn't answer that question for us. The Bible doesn't answer that question for us. I. Have two guesses. One is that this is clearly a test. God does not have the intent for Isaac to die. Two that God is reserving the human sacrifice for what this foreshadows God's own sacrifice of Jesus. Those are just guesses. I remember Tim Keller saying a long time ago that the God of the Bible is not a cardboard cutout God. He's not just one dimensional or two dimensional, like there's a lot of mystery. There's a lot we don't know which makes God bigger and more awesome than we can imagine. For Abraham, it was clear what he had to do. He had to sacrifice his son. And there's something more than Son Son, only Son, and the one you love, Isaac is supposed to bear the line that's going to get to a nation of Israel that is going to get us to the Messiah who will one day destroy the works of satan. Isaac's pivotal to the unfolding plan of God, and God has just told Abraham to kill him.
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This is a massive request by God, a command by God, not a request. Would you please do this? A command obedience to God. For this sacrifice would reveal what Abraham loved most, and the arrows of God's tests are always targeting our loves. Jesus says this to the church in Ephesus, to this church that was devoted to doctrinal purity, protecting preaching and teaching, fidelity to right doctrine. Jesus tells the first church in his list of churches, I have this against you. You have abandoned the love that you had at first. You can have the right doctrine, but not have a relationship with God, a right one. And Abraham did not abandon his first love. He didn't abandon it. He didn't abandon it. He obeyed. But have you, is your faith being tested? Is your faith being tested? Are you going through trial? What You Love is always a is going to show up in the time of trial? Time of trial, you have a whole bunch of busyness, and you have some people that are not getting done. What you want to get done as fast as you want to get done, what you love is control. You just put 100 things on that list of what I love right now can be your kids. It can be your grandkids. It can be your marriage. It can be motherhood, fatherhood, promotion or position at work, the success of your children, the house you live in, the pleasures that you can you can indulge the achievements or accomplishments or productivity, all of those things, all of those things, good created things. Can get worship love instead of human love, and God tests us. Consider the tests, address your love, and that makes us answer the question, okay, how do I pass the test? How do I pass the test? Here's what Abraham does, he focuses on God's promises and he focuses on God's provision, starting with God Himself and His character. The place that you have to go is to God and His character. You have to believe his promise and then wait for His provision. What is interesting is every reader of this story can imagine the anguish of Abraham, but the only thing God tells us about is his obedience. Was there no anguish? Doubtful he loved him. There had to be anguish. But what God wants us to watch is how Abraham obeyed. This was going to display his faith. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. Don't you desperately want to fill in? Don't you want some questions? I think a really good story makes you ask lots of questions. Like, did Abraham talk to Sarah about this? I don't know, but it sure seems interesting. Abraham rose early. Abraham never went to sleep. Could you imagine sleeping soundly the night before you have to go kill your beloved son? Probably not again. All these are just added in, like all these feelings we just we want to put in there. Abraham just makes very simple moves. He obeys very early he starts out. He takes the two young men as they start out, they cut the wood for the burnt offering, and they arise and they go to the place that God told him again, a three days journey in one verse. So circlet rose, saddled, took cut, went straight forward, obedience. And you're asking, How could Abraham do this kill his own son? And there's nothing recorded but swift obedience. Think some of the answers are already in front of us in Genesis for instance, Abraham understands the place and position of Yahweh. Genesis 1422, Abraham had a burst of courage. He's had bursts of failure and cowardice too, but Genesis 14, he has a burst of courage, and he takes his armed band of soldiers and goes and rescues lot and all the people from Sodom and Gomorrah comes back to Melchizedek in Jerusalem, and Melchizedek blesses God, Most High possessor of heaven and earth, Abraham responds after giving a tithe, saying, I have lifted my hand to the Lord God, Most High possessor of heaven and earth. The God who asked Abraham for the sacrifice of Isaac is the Most High Exalted One. No one comes near to his holiness and His magnificence, his greatness, and he is possessor of heaven and earth. Isaac never belonged to Abraham. He never belonged to Abraham. He always belonged to God, the possessor of heaven and earth. God is a good giver, but his gifts are things to steward, first and enjoy second. They are all on loan. Motherhood, fatherhood, career, children, singleness, just run down the list. Are all on loan to you to serve God, Most High possessor of heaven and earth. You are not your own. This is where we're most likely to trip up. You have a baby, you adopt a baby. It's a lot of work. I feel a lot like they're mine, and I'm going to act like they're mine. That's just with our family. Think about anything that we earn with a paycheck and we purchase with our money, we think of terms of ownership, and compared to other people, that's true, but never compared to God. This is where it's likely to trip us up. How could God ask for something that's ours? Well, he's not asking for something that's yours. He's asking for his sometimes back. But remember, God loves to share his possessions with his creatures. Shows up in Genesis, one, as he makes man in his image and he gives him stewardship of the earth. You are God's special creation. We have to remember this second part, Jesus has paid the price of your sin and therefore redeemed you. And in First Corinthians six, you were bought with a price. You are not your own. You're bought with a price. The first call to faith includes giving up your life to follow Jesus, and your ongoing act of faith is to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. According to Romans, 12, one and two, therefore, by the mercies of God, offer yourself as a living sacrifice. Abraham believed the promise. He trusted the God, God Most High and so when God called him, he said, I. Sick is the Lord's he is asking me to give him back. Right understanding of God was crucial about Abraham here. Then we get to the two parts and put them in your outline, the promises and the provision. That's the words they use here. Preachers love to use peace, but that's the words they use here. On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the donkey, and I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. Now, just stop there and notice that I and the boy will go and will come again to you. Abraham fully expects Isaac to return to the two servants. How is that possible? Abraham believes resurrection. How do we know in the affirmations of the Covenant, there's been five from chapter 12 to this Abraham is told that he will possess the land forever. How do you possess the land forever? How would you ever possess a land forever? Never die or get raised from the dead. It's the only two conclusions to possess something forever. You never die or you get raised from the dead.
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He tells Abraham, in 1515 you will be buried in a good old age. How could Abraham possess the land forever and ever if he's going to die in a good old age? Resurrection, Abraham already believes he will be raised from the dead. So have all Jews and all Christians from this time forward, there's a resurrection day coming. The challenge for Abraham is not resurrection. It is resurrection today. He would have to see his son raised, because he knows the promise, all of the promises that are going to come for his future generations, the 400 years in Egypt, and then coming out and entering Canaan to possess it. All of that is going to require resurrection then, but I have to see resurrection today. He counts on it. How can you be so sure? Sounds logical, but is there any affirmation of this? Yes. Hebrews 1117, through 19. Time to turn there. Listen. Hebrews 1117, through 19, by faith. Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises, was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom, it was said, through Isaac, shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. He put him on the altar and got him back. Abraham believed the promise of resurrection for himself. And Isaac, do you believe the promise of resurrection? Do you believe the promise of resurrection? Whatever you are called by God to obey that is very costly. You may lose something here, the rest of this life in resurrection, you gain more That and more Do you believe in resurrection? This flows all the way to the story of resurrection. Sunday, often called Easter, where we celebrate Jesus' death. Just Jesus' resurrection, the promise of life from the dead, that eventual day when this whole world will be resurrected into newness, and there will be eternal life on this world. Do you believe that whatever you were asked to sacrifice today as an obedience to God, there is resurrection coming. There's resurrection coming. The second thing we notice is the provision. This is what Abraham thinks is most likely. He believes that, yes, I believe resurrection. So if God asked me to kill him, we're going to have a resurrection if that's not the case. And here's what I think Abraham is really expecting, is provision. So look Isaac. Abraham strapped the wood on teenage Isaac. That's probably what we think the word lad is probably a teenager. It's the same age that Ishmael was in the chapter before however old he was, Abraham put all the firewood for the burnt offering, strapped it to his back, and young Isaac would go up the steep incline of the hill while old man, Abraham plotted up behind him, however big he. Is, He's big enough to run. He's big enough to run. He doesn't but he's got a question. As they're marching up the hill, my father, Abraham says, Here I am, my son. He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? Good question. Should I tell them now? Again, the silence is what's so engaging here. We don't know their conversation. Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son, look at the confidence that Abraham has. God is going to provide the offering. So they, both of them, went up together, God would resurrect, or God would provide the lamb again, painful agony of Abraham as he goes along in silence. Isaac is obviously puzzled when they came to the place where God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. I don't know how he bound him, but Isaac had a trust in his father and a trust in his father's God and willingly submitted to the sacrifice. It's not just Abraham's faith that's on display, it's Isaac's too Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. I think Chad Fry's picture is like the classic, you know, plunge it in picture, but a slaughter sacrifice has run the knife across the throat picture as he reaches John. Is the angel calls out. Angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here I am. I'm thinking. He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him for now, I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. Abraham, you revere Me because you did not withhold your only son. You give me worship love above human love. You love me more than what I have lent to you. Abraham passed the test, and the second thing that Abraham believed was the thing that came true God provided Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns, mountain goat, mountain sheep, I don't know, some kind of RAM. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering, instead of his son circle the instead, because here we are zeroing in on what's going on in this passage. This is the first official example of substitutionary atonement. The Ram served as the sacrifice in place of Isaac, and this is going to set the pattern for Israel in relation to a holy God. How does a holy God live with unholy people? There must be an atonement for their sin. Isaac's representing Israel, representing all who live by faith in the promise, all who eventually will trust Jesus Christ and God provides the substitute. It's sunken in here, into our imagination by the naming. Remember, naming in narrative passages is always important. It's going to tell you why this whole story matters. So the name of the place is The LORD Will Provide, as it is said, On this day, on the mount of the Lord, it shall be provided the name of the hill on Moriah, the name of that spot where Solomon built his temple, and not about 1500 years later, Jesus was executed just a couple of 100 yards from it. This is the place The LORD Will Provide, provide what atonement, forgiveness of sins, reconciliation to God. God provided the sacrifice for Isaac, so that Isaac would live, so that Israel would live, so that you would live, sets the pattern for Israel and its sacrifices. Remember this. That this moment is going to be etched in Israel's mind at the Passover in Exodus 12 and multiple times. Then after, Israel is commanded to sacrifice a lamb to put its blood on the doorpost, so when the angel of death passes over, so the people are spared a sacrificial animal as a substitute, sets the pattern, and it's set right here. All foreshadowing the great burnt offerings in Leviticus, in the Levitical system, in the worship system, all foreshadow what God provides in Christ. God provides the sacrificial system that Israel may live. God provides his own son.
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God took his son his only son,
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whom he loved. He
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he took Jesus. Christ brought him to Jerusalem, not very far from his spot. Jesus carried his own wood on which he was to be executed, and God did not spare His own Son, Jesus knew, from his eternal plan with the father taking on human flesh, coming to the Virgin Mary, moving through life, he knew in his earthly ministry that he was going to be rejected, betrayed, murdered, and on the third day rise. Jesus knew about resurrection. Jesus knew about God's promises, and Jesus knew about the reward for him and for his brothers and sisters by his obedience. And on the cross, the full fury of the wrath of God was taken in our place so that we might have forgiveness and resurrection and join Abraham in his kingdom. What does God require of you? Repentance and trust of all other competing loves, all other competing loves, this repentance and trust must manifest self in ways that are costly if you have not yet trusted Christ. Jesus says, Well, you want to follow me, I want you to follow me, but you must take up your cross daily to follow me. You must put yourself to death daily. There must be no competing loves, no competing faith. I'm the one you trust. You have to publicly proclaim Christ as Lord, to classmates, to friends, to family, even if they ridicule you or reject you. You must always love Jesus more than family, more than the girlfriend, fiance, boyfriend, fiance, you must love Jesus more than these.
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God is Most High. God is holy in the heavens. God is possessor of heaven and earth, and He is the only one worthy of worship love. He calls you from human, love and creation, love to worship love, and he has provided Jesus Christ to reconcile you and to pay for your sins, you must repent and turn to him, and you will do that over and over, the rest of your life as competing loves flood your life. Jesus says, Whoever loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of me. Whoever loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy than me. Whoever does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it. But listen to this, whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. Ha, we're not done yet. Consider the test. Address your love. Focus on God's promise and provision, and finally, rejoice in the rewards of faith. God gives of himself freely by grace to us. We trust him, rejoice in the rewards we get. To verse 15, for those of us who've been going through Genesis, this is a repeat and a confirmation. The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, by myself, I have sworn, declares the Lord, there's nobody else for me to swear to. I have to swear to myself because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son. I will surely bless you. I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gates of his enemies, and in your offspring, shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. God confirms his covenant promise. Has this whole covenant promise now been turned into a works justification? No, this whole situation has been set so that the faith of Abraham is expressed through obedience. Without obedience, there's no faith.
51:13
Faith is it was expressed by obedience. James, the apostle, tells us this was not Abraham, our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar, you see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works. He is not saying there is are two ways to be saved, faith and works. He is saying that those people who say, I have faith but have no obedience really have no faith. Your obedience is tested every day. Faith that obeys proves out what is true. Do you notice the reward for Abraham? Remember every every covenant agreement, even the new covenant, God, makes promises to save His people, His people. What it What is your response to Jesus? It is faith and trust. That's the one condition that you don't trust yourself, but you do trust him, and that condition will be met over and over, every day, when I want to trust something else, compared to Jesus. I will need to trust Jesus.
52:30
You see the reward. You have to imagine Jesus tells a story about Abraham, Abraham's bosom, and a person, a Jew who joins Abraham's bosom, which is the Old Testament, picture of heaven waiting for resurrection. Abraham has been watching for 45 let's see 15 102,030 500 years, people entering the kingdom by faith. I mean, this is what he gets to see because of this obedience and God's confirmation, he gets to be the conduit for every believer who has ever lived since him, coming to faith in Him and eventually through Jesus Christ. What a thing it is. Can you imagine being Abraham, watching people choose against the world and for God, over and over, throughout history, what a marvel, what a blessing he has to enjoy that and a future resurrection for this world and his place on it, there is reward. Hebrews 11 without faith, it is impossible to please God, but we believe that God is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him. Jesus gives the great command to give everything and follow Him. In Mark 1028, Jesus says something back Peter began to say to him, see we have left everything and followed you. Jesus said, Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sister or mother or father or children or lands for my sake and for the Gospel who will not receive 100 fold now in this time, houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, lands with persecution, because it's not heaven yet and in the age to come eternal life, there is a reward from a gracious God, Most High possessor of heaven and earth, who has offered Jesus Christ as your substitute on the cross. And if you believe in Him, you will not perish, but have everlasting life, the reward is infinitely greater than any thing you give up here. Abraham sets our example. Let's pray, Father, thank you for a very. Poignant word, thank you for strengthening Abraham's faith. And all of us know it. There's there's some issue in our life that is testing what we love most, and we always want to say no to the competition and yes to loving you, and I pray that You would help us do that, that we would obey whatever your word commands us. Has never been commanded since, and you yourself did this very thing to your son, Jesus in our place. We are thankful for that, for the reward that is in Christ. Pray that you would strengthen and encourage and empower us to follow Abraham's footsteps Christ's name. Amen.
Dr. Dan Jarms is lead pastor at Faith Bible Church in Spokane Washington, as well as associate dean at The Master's Seminary in Spokane. He has been married for over 30 years to Linda, and has three adult children. He earned his B.A. in English at the Master’s College, B.Ed. at Eastern Washington University, M.Div and D.Min in Expository Preaching at The Master’s Seminary. His other interests include NCAA basketball, woodworking, and art.
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