MidTree Church
The sermon audio of MidTree Church in Harris County, Ga. BEHOLD // BELIEVE // BECOME
MidTree Church
Walking in Faith: Abraham's Test and God's Provision | Pastor Will Hawk | November 24th, 2024
What can the story of Abraham teach us about trust and faith in the face of unimaginable challenges? Join us as we explore the compelling narrative of Genesis 22, where Abraham's faith is put to the ultimate test. By drawing parallels between Abraham's journey and the anticipation of Thanksgiving, we uncover the integral role of preparation in building faith and highlight how leaving behind the familiar can lead to divine blessings. This episode promises to provide insights into embracing life's uncertainties with hope, grounded in God's unwavering promises.
Abraham's journey to the mountain of provision is more than just a story of sacrifice; it's a profound lesson on obedience and trust in divine provision. As we examine this narrative alongside Jesus' path to the crucifixion, we see God's method of shaping believers through tests and challenges. Just as God provided manna in the Exodus, He leads us to rely on His provision over earthly securities. Through these stories, listeners are encouraged to view trials as opportunities for growth and strengthened faith in their relationship with God.
The symbolism within Abraham's sacrifice of Isaac foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice through Christ, offering a deeper understanding of God's redemptive plan. We'll reflect on the emotional weight of Abraham's test and the concept of substitutionary atonement, where a ram stands in place of Isaac, prefiguring Jesus as the Lamb of God. By the end of this episode, you'll be invited to trust God's plan, even when the path is unclear, and consider how trials can lead to unexpected blessings and fulfillment of His promises. Join us on this journey of faith and discover the necessity of embracing Jesus in our lives.
If you want to learn more about the MidTree story or connect with us, go to our website HERE or text us at 812-MID-TREE.
All right, guys, if you would go ahead and flip in your Bibles to Genesis, chapter 22. Now we've been working through the book of thank you. Mom appreciate that. We've been working through the book of Luke. We're going to hit pause on that. The next thing we're going to do in the book of Luke is the account of the crucifixion. I didn't want to start that and then be like Halloween, thanksgiving, christmas and then dive back in. So we're going to look in Genesis, chapter 22. And in Genesis, chapter two, we are going to walk up a mountain. I just untied my shoe. We're going to walk up a mountain with Abraham, but what I want you to do is I want you to begin looking for a couple of things. Okay, I want you looking for the faithfulness that a believer can grow in if they will engage in preparation. Let me explain what I mean by this. I asked y'all a moment ago how many of you were ready for Thanksgiving, or you were in Thanksgiving mode. Okay, I'm going to paint with a very broad brush stroke and I'm going to say most of the men in this room have no clue if there are going to be deviled eggs on the table on Thursday. Broad brush stroke. I'm then going to say that a number of ladies in the room have different crock pot ideas. If you haven't already figured out your recipe and gone to Walmart or Publix or Aldi or your grocery store of choice to make sure that you have what you need, I'm just broad brushstrokes, all right, and what I want you to realize is we're about to follow the story of Abraham, and God is going to ask him to do something that seems absolutely difficult and impossible, and I don't want you to miss this, especially people in the room, maybe men, who are very prone to just show up and be like, okay, something's happening and I am here and that is a good thing. Let me let you know if this is you, if you are used to Christmas morning, somebody getting a gift from you and you do not know what the gift is, I'm talking to you. That's who I'm talking about. I want you to watch Abraham lean into the preparation. There is something intrinsically meaningful and beautiful about the oven opening and the smell of the rolls filling the room, even though it's not time to eat yet, and that's what I want you leaning into when it comes to preparation. Second thing, for those of you who struggle, when things get difficult or stressful, to trust that God is good. Broad brushstrokes here Might be more of the women on average than the men. I want you to watch how Abraham faithfully that's one of the big words of the day faithfully trusts God when it doesn't make sense, when the plan does not go according to what he expected and when it is an abundantly difficult situation. All right, so to get us started, we're going to start with the call of Abram Yep, okay, good stuff. I told you to turn to Genesis 22. I haven't lost my mind. I know this is Genesis 12.
Speaker 1:One of the very first Christmas passages that we have in the Bible actually comes care of Genesis chapter three. Nobody thinks of it as Christmas. It's when Adam and Eve have fallen into sin and God in Genesis chapter 3, 15, he gives them this teeny little promise. It's very short in words but very deep in meaning. He says here's what's going to happen. I'm going to send someone and he is going to crush the head of the enemy and he is going to have his heel struck. In other words, evil is going to be defeated. Adam and Eve, you have wrecked this paradise. This perfect plan that I had put in place has now been broken. I am going to step into that and I am going to send someone who's going to fix it. That's actually your very first Christmas passage.
Speaker 1:The second one comes care of Abram, who will become Abraham. Now the Lord said to Abram go from your country, go from your kindred, go from your father's house to the land that I will show you. Now, if you'll do this, abraham, I'm going to make you a great nation, I'll bless you and I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. And now, all of a sudden, I want you to watch the beginnings of Christmas here. I will bless those who bless you and him who dishonors you I will curse. And all the families of the earth will be blessed if you'll do this thing, families in countries that have yet to have political boundaries, languages that have yet and dialects that have yet to be spoken, empires that have yet to rise and have yet to fall.
Speaker 1:Abraham, I am looking at you and I'm telling you, with these ifs if you will go from your country, I want you to leave what's comfortable, your kindred, your people, your customs. I want you to leave even your house and your relatives. If you will do. That blessing is going to follow. I want to pray over us, but before I do, I want to show you what I want to be true of every person in this room, before you leave. This is what Abraham thought his life was going to look like. This is what most of us expect our life to look like. I've got a plan, I have an idea, I know where I am and I know where I'm going, and I just want you to watch this. God looks at that plan and he says no, you are going to leave your country, you are going to leave your people, you're going to leave your father's house, that plan that you had. I am interrupting and, if you will trust me, I'm going to take the path that you thought was good, great and wonderful, and I'm going to do something way better than you could imagine, but you're going to have to trust me. Now let me pray for you as we consider these things.
Speaker 1:Father, I love these people. I love your word. I love the way that you invite us into hard things and difficulty, and it's not just to like harden us or strengthen us. It's because you really, really love us. You will start us on paths that we're never going to actually finish, because that is the path we must walk to to get to the next vista, to get to the next mountain, so that we can see you more clearly. Father, I would just ask this Every one of us wants to know what life is going to look like. We want assurance, we want stability, we want confidence. What would it look like, lord, for us to have that, not in our plan, our ideas or the things that we can bring about, but in just knowing that you are real, you are good and you love your children? Father, may we be a people who know that, believe it and feel it, and I ask all of these things in Jesus' name. Amen.
Speaker 1:This, this idea, is the life of the Christian in miniature form. Now, after this happens, god tells him there's more to this story. He takes him outside. While I show you this slide, let me just give you a little background. I didn't just Google stars, because it's in the verse, and put this up. This is an actual image from the Mars rover that was taken fairly recently. What you're looking at is what you would see in the dark if our atmosphere is a bit different and if we didn't have the light pollution we see. This is what it looks like to look out at night on the planet Mars, how God has created it.
Speaker 1:He takes Abraham out and he tells him I want you to look toward heaven, number the stars. If you're able to number them, and then he said, so shall your offspring be. Now, look, I don't know about you guys, but when I go outside, I don't know that God would use this illustration on us anymore, because when I walk outside, if God says, number the stars, I go okay, and I'll get to about like 30 or 40, depending on the day. Some of us, if we have people around us and we want to be very impressive, we might look up and say there's Orion's belt, right, I know this one. Some of you may even know Cassiopeia. Oh wow, here big dipper points to Polaris. Did you know that? And my new favorite there goes Starlink, just flying across. I love seeing that.
Speaker 1:I want you to realize God is not just promising Abraham you're going to have a family that is going to be massive. That's great, it's expensive, if you ask me. He's telling him something more. He's saying I'm going to give you not just a family that is great in number, but a family that is great in purpose. And, abraham, you didn't do anything to deserve this. I, I'm going to give you not just a family that is great in number, but a family that is great in purpose. And, abraham, you didn't do anything to deserve this. I'm just going to do it because I love you. I'm going to do it because I've had this plan since before Genesis 3.15, when I told people that I was going to make a way when it seemed like there was no way. And Abraham, today you get to be the way Christian. Please lean into this. I think God says this to all of us in some way, shape, form or fashion.
Speaker 1:And then what you read in verse 6 is one of the most theologically ripped, dripping verses that you are going to find in the book of Genesis. He believed the Lord and God counted it to him as righteousness. Did you know? Only Christians would say something like this? Of all of the religions that ever have been or will be, take your pick. Take Judaism, take Islam, take Taoism, take moral relativism, take pluralism, take universalism, take Buddhism or Hinduism. What you are going to find is what we saw when Moses bebopped down the mountain. Here's what it means to make God happy, but long before those rules were ever given. This is what Abraham was told. I am going to credit you righteous, I am going to call you right in my sight, and it's going to have nothing to do with what you have done. This is not religion, this is faith. He believed the Lord and when he believed, when he looked up and he couldn't even imagine that 4,000 years later.
Speaker 1:By the way really cool note the distance from Abraham to Jesus is the distance from Jesus to you. If you've never known that, just like slide into it. It's not exact, but it's pretty close. That he looks at Abraham and he says you will never know the Amandas or the Judys or the Genas or the Bethanies. You're never gonna know the Gregs on this side. This promise I am making you is for them. This is what God is saying. And Abraham believed God. And God said that is what my family is going to look like People who believe. And so here Abraham is. He's longing for what God is going to do. You've just told me my life is going to be completely different. I'm leaving everything that I know, and all you've told me is to look up and believe and begin walking. And so here Abraham is. I'm looking, I'm longing and, if I'm honest, I'm losing a little bit too. I'm losing what I've known. And this is what slides us into our text today Genesis 22, starting in verse one After these things, god tested Abraham.
Speaker 1:Don't let that word scare you. You need to fall in love with that word if you're a Christian. He 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. Parents in the room and grandparents in the room, let me just invite you into this.
Speaker 1:What would it look like for God to have said that to you? Now you can make some arguments. Well, we didn't have the book of Leviticus. This would have been common practice, potentially, in a pagan land. We don't even have Christians. We have sort of Christian. We have this one guy and he's trying to figure out what it means to follow and love God.
Speaker 1:But what I want you to see is that God is doing something here, and the Bible uses the word test. He's giving Abraham a test here. Does this mean that God views children low? Absolutely not, and you're going to see that in just a moment. What I want you to see is that God just gave Abraham a promise You're gonna have this massive family. Then he goes to the thing his son, his progeny, the one that God promised would be the sprout from this promise being fulfilled, and he said I'm not just going to ask you to do the hardest thing possible. I am, I'm also going to ask you to do the thing that causes you to question if I'm worth trusting. Both of these things are happening at the same time.
Speaker 1:Now, some of you I'm not imagining that it's most, but some of you in this room are being asked to trust God in one of the most difficult seasons of your life. You are, some of you may, on top of that of your life, you are, some of you may, on top of that, be being asked by God to walk through this darkness which is causing you to question if he even cares about you at all. Welcome to following Abraham, the father of our faith. But even here, all of a sudden, there's this little glimmer of hope. Now, I told you this when I said we were praying for you before you ever got here, while you guys were brushing your teeth and brushing your hair and figuring out if you had all the buttons on your shirt, we were praying something for you and this word Moriah comes up. It's the second time in two weeks that Moriah has come up. Last week was Carrie. That's not as redemptive, even though it does point us to Christmas. Here we have Mount Moriah.
Speaker 1:Now, if I was Jewish and I spoke Hebrew and I said this word correctly, what you would hear is a word that sounds a lot like provision. Abraham is being asked to go to a mountain called provision, while God is asking him to let go of everything that he thought was going to provide for the goodness of his life. But there's something else you need to see. I don't let me get your eyes for just a minute. Yeah, you can look at the map too, but give me your eyes for just a minute. I don't feel the need to always tie last week to this week. I don't need to always tie last week to this week. I don't, but I do love it when it happens. And so let me just say this If you are generally like a spotty church attender not angry at you. I'm not about to shovel a bunch of like condemnation in your lap. I just want you to know there's something beautiful watching scripture unfold page after page after page, and I, as a pastor, just don't want you to miss it.
Speaker 1:And we have a very unique opportunity here. Last week we were in Luke, chapter 19, and Jesus was leaving. I'll show you where it is on the map here. He was in the Mount of Olives and he was beginning the journey down to come into the temple. And he went past these tombs and as he was going by, people were putting down robes and they were putting down palm branches and they were praising God and the Pharisees, the religious people right, not the faith, but the works types, the religious types. They looked at Jesus and they said hey, tell your disciples to zip it. They should not be praising you like this. Who do you think you are? Is what they're basically saying. And Jesus said something back to them. He said I'm going to get you to help me with this. If they do not praise me, even the rocks will cry out. As he says this, he's walking past the tombs, probably the tomb of Zechariah, who, about 400 years before, had prophesied that very moment. But did you know? This is the exact same mountain that Abraham walked up to sacrifice his son Isaac? Did you know that 2,000 years before Christ walked up a hill with wood on his shoulders to be the sacrificial lamb of God, that 2,000 years before God had been writing a story that most of us would be prone to miss? This is how God works in the life of a believer, and he is testing Abraham.
Speaker 1:The Bible doesn't hold any punches here. Now, what does that mean? Well, james reminds us let no one say when he's tempted by the way, all of you will be tempted, are being tempted, have been tempted, are being tempted, have been tempted. When that happens, the Bible tells you do not say I'm being tempted by God. God cannot. That doesn't appear in the Bible very often. Just so you know, we don't say that a lot in Christianity. Let me tell you what God can't do. God has bound himself by his own righteousness to not tempt people. Why? Because it is not his desire for you to sin. It is his desire for you to have faith and for that faith to produce righteousness. God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
Speaker 1:I told you this is what Abraham's life looked like. This is what he expected. And then, all of a sudden, an unexpected reality. And it wasn't going to look like that. He was going to leave his family, his kindred, he was gonna leave his nation. The enemy would have loved for that to have been a temptation. Would have loved for Abraham to say you know, I may have started this journey, but I've gotta go back. It's too hard, it's too difficult. This is what temptation looks like. That's not what God has. What God is doing is he is testing him and, by the way, this is not unique to Abraham. God has been doing this for a long time.
Speaker 1:Exodus 16 puts it this way. Then the Lord said to Moses you remember? Him Carried a stick big beard, carried a couple of rocks down from a mountain. Behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you. Can we agree? This would be a good day to be a Christian. I don't know how big your faith is, but toward the end of the month, when the money's dried up or, in their case, we've just left Egypt, nobody has a farm, nobody has a pot or a pantry to put anything in, and we're hungry, when God says here's the deal Publix is coming to you. All right, it's going to be great. You're not even going to have to wait in a long line to get that footlong. It's gonna start falling from the sky.
Speaker 1:But I want you to watch something God is not just being generous, he is, he's also educating his people. Behold, I'm about to rain bread from heaven for you and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion. I want them to do this every single day. Why? So that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. Here is what God's saying. They thought their life was going to look like this, but it didn't. I stepped in to their slavery, and when I did, I set them free and I put them on another path. And then I stepped in again and I ripped open the Red Sea, even though they didn't see it coming. And now here they are in the desert and I'm going to step in again, and I am going to, if they will have faith, I'm going to carry them to a place that they have never seen before them, to a place that they have never seen before.
Speaker 1:What God did was he made bread fall in such a way that within 24 hours, it would rot away. They could not store it. God was testing them. He's not trying to tempt them. He's not trying to cause them to doubt. He is wanting them to do the same thing he wants for you. He wants you to quit thinking, saying or believing that it is good for you to know God's will for your life. You are not going to find that in scripture, not in the way that most of us say it.
Speaker 1:What God often gives the believer is today, and sometimes occasionally a little bit of tomorrow, and that is by design. You wanna know what's really fascinating about this? What's really fascinating is the day before the Sabbath, when they weren't allowed to work, that same bread that fell from heaven would last for two days. Why? So that God could show them. I'm gonna test you today and I'm gonna test you today and I'm gonna test you tomorrow. Might I'm going to test you today and I'm going to test you tomorrow. Might give you a break the next day, but this is what matters. Are you interested in me because I am the giver of gifts, or are you interested in me because I am worth knowing that? I am going to interrupt your life often? I am going to step into the plan that you have perfectly precisely planned, and I am going to say no to that thing. This is exactly what God does to Abraham. This is not temptation, this is testing, and it's what God does in the life of every believer.
Speaker 1:And then the Bible says in verse three Abraham wakes up early the next morning. I don't know about you, but if I have to do something I do not want to do, I'm not setting my alarm for 530 in the morning. If I have to go stand in some long line, if I have to go deal with some difficult situation, I am not prone to say, well, I need to get a good night's sleep, not getting on Netflix tonight. Hey, alexa, wake me up at 530 in the morning. I've got to go do the most difficult thing I've ever been asked to do in my life. That's not how most of us would do it. We would belabor the point, we would kick the can down the road, we would delay it. But not Abraham. Asked to do the most difficult thing he has ever been asked to do, he wakes up early and he begins moving.
Speaker 1:Faithfulness to God is often sacrificial and always without delay. Faithfulness is never slow. Obedience is never cautious it moves. Now look, faithfulness isn't always sacrificial. Hopefully, you being faithful to you pick faithful to a gift to sing is also a joy. Hopefully, faithfulness in a marriage yields incredible fruit and love and blessing. Hopefully, faithfulness in your job yields provision and generosity to the people around you. But many times faithfulness to God will be sacrificial, but it will always be without delay. You can take your pick, whether you want Oswald Chambers or Charles Spurgeon to drive this point home for you. Faith never knows where it's being led, but it loves and knows the one who is leading it. This is what Abraham wants to show you. True faith is never passive. It acts and it obeys immediately.
Speaker 1:Now this is the text in its entirety. I've only covered the first portion. I'm guessing y'all cannot read that. Is that fair to say? Some of you guys are struggling, tara. How's it going back there Struggling? Okay, good, I want to show you the entirety of the text for a reason Because I'm about we're going to go into story time for just a minute and I don't think you're going to get bored, hopefully. One, it's God's word, okay. Two, it's a narrative and it's incredible. But as we go through this three times, I'm gonna tell you we're driving by an exit sign. I want you to notice it. Okay, three times, it's gonna be Bucky's, 75 miles. I just want you to see it. Start getting excited about it. Prepare is what I'm trying to say. When you see the next one and it's 30 miles, get more excited. The next one at 15.
Speaker 1:So Abraham rose early in the morning. He saddled his donkey and took two of his young men with him and his son Isaac. 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 that place from afar, the same place Jesus would walk in Luke 19. 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. So they went, both of them together. And Isaac said to his father them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, my father. And he said here I am my son. He said behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering. Notice this exit sign. They are walking up a mountain called provision. Abraham is fully expecting that he is going to sacrifice his son. He still says this. Abraham said God will provide. I may not know how, I may not know what this looks like. God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. So they went both of them together.
Speaker 1:What's it like to walk with your son? The son that God promised that you would have in your old age, the one that caused you to doubt if God was there or cared, and then, all of a sudden, he does what he says he was going to do. What's it like to walk with that son, knowing that his life is about to end? What's it like to walk with that son knowing that his life is about to end? What's it like to know you're going to be a part of bringing that life to an end? What is the conversation like? Were you paying close attention? How long did this journey take? Three days.
Speaker 1:It's hard to sit with one of my kids for 10 minutes if I have difficult news to share with them. I've never had to share news like this. Well, ellis, it's been a good run. Buddy Insurance is too high and I have to make some decisions here. Never had to have a conversation like that, and we have had hard conversations as parents and children. What's it like to have to sleep at night Next to him? What's it like knowing that you're having last moments, when he doesn't know you're having last moments?
Speaker 1:What is it like for beads of sweat to fall, for wood to be carried, for fire to be kept, for a knife to be sharpened as you walk up a hill, and then for your son to look at you and say, dad, this doesn't make sense. I've heard the stories, dad. I know your life. I know that you believe in God. I've seen how God called you from something and then from something, over and over and over again. But if I'm honest, dad, I'm a little confused.
Speaker 1:When they came to the place of which God had told them, abraham built the altar there. He laid the wood in order. Notice the care he laid the wood in order. Notice the care he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. Do you see the preparation in Abraham? Three days of panic, three days of trembling hands, three days of God saying I'm going to have to show you something that you will not be able to see any other way. And Abraham prepared the place for the sacrifice.
Speaker 1:One of the reasons I want us to read this text is because, in the weeks ahead, you're going to be singing songs like joy to the world. Jars of clay is going to reappear in your playlist and they haven't been there for quite some time, but they're going to show up pretty soon. And when they start singing songs like joy to the world, when we gather together in this room and I hope you'll join us and I hope you'll bring unbelieving friends and neighbors and we start singing praises on Christmas Eve, we're going to sing songs and you're going to hear themes like prepare him room. This is what it looked like 2,000 years before Christ to prepare room for Jesus. This is what it's looked like from the 2,000 years from Jesus to today for Christians to prepare him room. I told you one of the reasons I wanted to look at this is so that you would lean into the preparation and how it builds faith in you. You would lean into all of the work that must be done to experience the fullness of a Christ-filled Christmas. I want that for you. I wanted you to lean into the sacrifice that is required and not look away when things are difficult or unexpected or unplanned.
Speaker 1:Do you see Abraham here? He brought the wood. That means he was planning ahead. He built the altar. It took some energy. Fyi, abraham is no young pup anymore. All right, lifting stuff is getting to be outside of his skill set. He ordered the wood with care. Can you imagine that? Laying these beams down, knowing that the next thing that's going to lay on it is the back of your son, your only son, the son whom you love, isaac. And he orders them with care. And then he binds his son. You want an entire sermon tucked into a sermon. Why doesn't Isaac fight back? You think he couldn't win that fight against a hundred year old Abraham? You think he couldn't outrun his dad down a mountain? When Abraham binds his son, isaac is a willing sacrifice. He doesn't know what's gonna happen. Abraham lays him on the wood Verse 10,.
Speaker 1:Then Abraham reached out his hand and he took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called him from heaven and said I'm going to say it because it says it this way Abraham, abraham, twice. Why twice? Abraham was not faking. This was not a, it wasn't that. The knife is in his hand, hand the angel of god calls out two times capture the attention of an old man who's hearing may not be what it once was abraham abraham. And he said here I am. Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear god. Welcome to being tested. You think god didn't know. You think God was surprised. He was like oh, he actually did it. Didn't see that one. No, he is teaching you something. He is teaching Abraham something.
Speaker 1:The father of faith. Testing is in the nature of following Christ. It is not a mistake when it happens to you. Believer. Now, I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son from me. Please notice this sign as we drive by it. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
Speaker 1:Welcome to the theology of substitutionary atonement, welcome to the first time when a sacrifice was prepared and ready to go. And God says not that I love this, I'm proud of you for holding it in an open hand. Let me provide something else, something better. 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.
Speaker 1:And then here's how the text closes. 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, I just love it Every time. Your only son, I will surely bless you. I'll multiply your offspring as stars of the heaven. You remember that promise from seven chapters ago. I haven't changed my mind. I'll multiply them as the sand that's on the seashore. Your offspring will possess the gates of his enemies. They will prevail, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice. You have obeyed my voice.
Speaker 1:What did Abraham think was going to happen? The Bible actually answers that question for you. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come to you again. If I'm remembering correctly, I think that's in verse 4. Let me see, let me look. Y'all help me if you see it before. I think that's in verse four. Let me see, let me look. Y'all help me if you see it before I do. I took the wood, isaac, is it verse five? Yep, stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you. What did Abraham think was going to happen? Well, hebrews tells us, because Thomas wasn't wrong when he said Hebrews takes the Old Testament and Jesus and draws them together. So you can see it by faith.
Speaker 1:Abraham, when he was here's our word tested offered up Isaac, and he, who had received the promises, was in the act of offering up his only son. The knife is beginning to fall, the son of whom it was said through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He, abraham, considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead. That's what Abraham thought was going to happen. He thought he was going to watch the knife fall on his son. He thought he was going to watch life. Leave his eyes. By the way, if you're paying close attention, the offering was going to be a burnt offering. He expected that flames would encompass his son, his only son, whom he loved. And he still believed that God would fulfill his promise by bringing Isaac back from the dead.
Speaker 1:But that is not what God does. He does something else instead. I point this to you because, when I look at this, what I see is sacrifice. Abraham saw worship. Did you see that? Did you see that in verse 5? Abraham said To his young men stay here with the donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship.
Speaker 1:How often do you see the sacrifices that God is calling you to make? Worship. This is how faith begins to reorganize the way your mind sees testing and difficulty. What if, when the plan fails, when you can't even come up with a way for it to make sense? What if, when God calls you to something, he is calling you down this path not that you will reach its end, but it is the only path you can walk that he could then call you to another, and that path is never actually going to get you to the end that you expected. It's going to walk you down so he can interrupt you and put you on a different one. All of a sudden, abraham shows us he is able to see worship here, and I want you to see what God has built. What God has built is an ending that is exceedingly good a joyful outcome. All nations blessed. But how is this going to come? It's gonna come because of a substitute, because someone else is gonna step in and take the punishment that was deserved by another.
Speaker 1:There's one of my favorite musical groups growing up when I was in college was the David Crowder Band. Do I have any David Crowder fans? Yes, love Crowder stuff. Okay, if you're not listening to David Crowder, it's fun, it's good. Most of it is upbeat and it's theologically accurate. He wrote a song called Let Me Feel you Shine and I just want you to feel this. This was one of the lyrics from that song.
Speaker 1:I lift the knife to the thing I love most praying you'll come so that I can have both. This is faith to God. This is you holding the thing that you most love with an open hand and saying God, if this thing that I most love begins to rear up as an idol, if this thing that I most love begins to direct my heart away from you, what I really need is for you to be the thing that I need. So I will lift this knife, but I'm praying God don't take this relationship from me. I'm praying God don't take this decision outside of my hands. I'm praying, god don't make this good thing go away. Can I please have both? This is the question from Genesis 22. And then God shows us what provision looks like A joyful outcome. How? Because of a substitution. Why? Because there was a promised son.
Speaker 1:Now, I don't know if you noticed this, but here is what I read to you. I mentioned to you worship is what I read to you. I mentioned to you worship that this is what Abraham believed was happening as he walked this mountain to make the hardest decision he ever would. But I wonder if you noticed this, abraham, I want you to take your son. I want you to take your only son, isaac, the one that you love. I want you to go to the place of provision. I want you to cut wood, and when you cut that wood, I want you to lay it on top of him. He laid it on Isaac, his son. We have a son. We have wood being cut. We have that wood being placed on a son. By the way, you're not going to see this provision, this promise, is not going to be fulfilled until the third day. What is in the hand of the Father? Fire and knife. If you really want to have a good time with it. There's even a donkey there.
Speaker 1:Hey, it's Genesis 22. Welcome to the gospel, welcome to the hope of Christmas, welcome to what Abraham sees as worship, that somehow all of these realities that find their completion in Christ are how he is worshiping A son, an only son, who is loved, taken to a land of provision with a donkey in tow, woodcut, placed on his back, and in the hand of the father is a knife and an unquenchable fire. This is the nature of the gospel. But then God says something incredible God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering my son. Now, I don't know if you can fully appreciate this or not, but if you mark in your Bibles I'd circle this one you wanna know the tightest, compact, atomic level theology of the good news of the gospel in Advent and Christmas. It's that God will provide Welcome to the mountain. 2,000 years later I'm going to provide the actual lamb. For now we're rehearsing this thing as a shadow of what is to come, so that 2,000 years from now, when it happens, people will see it, and 2,000 years after that people will be sitting on white pews and believing that God is good, even when it's hard to see it. And when God provides, he is doing this, christian, please don't be offended by this. He's doing it for himself.
Speaker 1:If you have only ever been taught that Jesus died for you, that is insufficient theology. He did die for you, but he died that his father would be seen as just. He died so that God would be seen as glorifyingly wonderful. He died to fulfill the promises of God. He died for his father as much as he died for you. And when he did, he was the lamb and I'd never noticed this before.
Speaker 1:But why a burnt offering? If you look at all of the different kinds of offerings in the Old Testament, I think sometimes we have the wrong picture in our mind. We think of a bunch of stones piled up, we think of a dead animal, we think of fire coming up. And don't get me wrong, that isn't an incorrect understanding. But there are other offerings that are more like a backyard barbecue. There are other offerings where something is slain and cooked and it's enjoyed by the family Passover meal. It's enjoyed by the community where grain is offered up, where they celebrate together.
Speaker 1:But in the burnt offering you have something that is unique. You see, in everything else, part burned, part burned, part burned, part burned, and then it's given to the priest, or it's given to the family, or it's given as restitution to somebody who was wronged. But in this offering that Abraham is told to make, it is entirely consumed. Why does that matter? Because when Jesus died on the cross, he was entirely consumed by the wrath of God, by the knife that was in the father's hands, consumed by the wrath of God by the knife that was in the father's hands, not hammer or nails in the hands of some soldiers. He was entirely consumed by a fiery wrath that you deserved and in so doing, all of the wrath was completely extinguished. And all that is left in this promise from verse eight is sonship. When the lamb has been slain and the flames have been quenched, all God has left for you is this Hello my son, hello my daughter, we have walked up so great a mountain, with wood piled on my son, my only son, the one whom I love, his back, so that you can be called child of the most high God.
Speaker 1:This is what God was showing us long before, and you may have been caught up in the fact that God promised a lamb and then in comes this ram. That's a little frustrating, isn't it, for God to get so close to right. I mean, he gets it most of the time. I guess one off isn't too too bad. No, this is a lamb, except there's something else tucked into this. This is a lamb that is fully matured. This is a lamb, except there's something else tucked into this. This is a lamb that is fully matured. This is a lamb that is given horns to be able to protect its flock. This is a lamb that was mature and of greatest value in that day and age. And here is where you find it, caught by its head in the thorns this ram, the powerful protector of its flock. In him we see Jesus, the Lamb of God, whose head will be entangled in thorns as he dies in the place of another. How cool is the Bible? Are you kidding me right now?
Speaker 1:If God can write this story for some dude named Abraham, who never made it to Sunday school, didn't memorize one Bible verse because he didn't have any, had no coloring sheets about Zacchaeus hiking up a tree, do you know what he can do with you? Anything he wants, so long as when he tests you, you don't call it temptation and run in the wrong direction. So long as when difficulty comes, you look at it and you say I can see this as sacrifice or I can see this as worship. And God has always written stories for his people to worship in, to worship in, so Abraham called the name of that place. The Lord will provide, and what we end with is a joyful outcome.
Speaker 1:If this is how you come to God, if you are open for your story to be interrupted, if it's not your plan but you can still trust that it's God's, 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. That may not be your promise, christian, but I think this one is. And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice without waiting. God says go and you go. He says speak and you speak. He says do and you do Not because it makes sense, not because it's not sacrificial, but because it is worship, because, even if you can't see the end before the beginning, you can trust the process and the plan of God. You can actually get excited before it's all made sense and hit the table and been organized for you. You can smell the aroma of the goodness of God before the meal is fully complete.
Speaker 1:We are called to lean into a joyful outcome, even if it's hard for us to see. In the midst of the darkest day of Abraham's life, the weekend he would have most questioned God's goodness, god showed up and he used his story. In Christmas, we are drawn to celebrate every seemingly unlikely, yet surely fulfilled, promise of God, because he is coming for all of humanity and for the whole world to celebrate. When you obey the voice of God, things happen. And if you do not, if you're in this room and you're not a believer, I'm so pumped that you're here. If you're skeptical of this, if you're sort of seeking it out but you're not sure, let me just invite you to the one of what I think is the greatest things for you to do Test it. See if, when a difficulty arises, if you run toward God, seeing if he is testing you, that you would see that he is faithful all the time. See if he doesn't prove himself to be faithful. Don't take that as a license, that difficulty, as a license to run in the other direction.
Speaker 1:I was talking with a young man this week and we were looking at this passage and he said Will. If I'm honest, I don't think, if my dad would have stayed around, I would be a Christian today. Do you know what that is? That's looking at your life and saying God's interrupting and I am choosing. I'm choosing faith. I could easily run the other way. If God had not interrupted, with something that I would call wrong, difficult, something that I would have loved and never let go of, I don't think I would love God the way that I love him today. This is such a lesson for Christians about obedience.
Speaker 1:Just because you've heard from God doesn't mean you're done hearing from him. Abraham didn't say okay, yeah, I'll leave my nation, I'll leave my family and here's my life. There it is. Nope, you're gonna have a kid, but you're gonna be like 100 years old when it happens. Okay, that's a bit of a step. All right, good stuff. All right, got it, got my plan. Here we go, have a kid, have a big family. Yeah, you're gonna kill him. Okay, I guess you can bring him back from the dead.
Speaker 1:This is the nature of being a Christian. Just because I've heard from God does not mean I've heard everything that he has for me. God may start you on a path he never intends for you to finish, but that path may be the only way for you to see what he actually intends for you. It's what he did for Abraham. He had to get him to that mountain.
Speaker 1:So what is the thing that you love most? What's the thing that you would be afraid to let go of? What is the difficulty that you would never call testing? You would call it temptation, but God may use. I pray that you'll be able to have both, but more than that, what I want is for you to realize Jesus is the only thing that you truly need. That's the story of the faithful follower of God. Father, as we stand and as we worship, as we ponder these things, I pray that you would show us what obedience looks like. Pray that you would show us what faithfulness looks like. Prepare us for the season ahead that we would lean into it, and when difficulty arises, when unexpected things threaten, may we in no way doubt your goodness. Test us, as you must, that we would grow in our faithfulness, knowing that you will show us your face, which is the greatest thing we could have ever asked for anyway. Amen.