WEBVTT 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:03.520 I want us to turn to the book of Genesis and chapter number 22. 00:00:03.839 --> 00:00:06.879 The book of Genesis and chapter number 22. 00:00:07.120 --> 00:00:10.720 And uh can we stand for just a moment for the reading of God's Word? 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:15.759 Uh Genesis chapter 22 and verse 1. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.039 I don't want to speak on this subject tonight. 00:00:19.440 --> 00:00:22.719 Our one determining factor. 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:26.800 Our one determining factor. 00:00:29.199 --> 00:00:37.039 As I was listening to uh what the kids said, I was reminded again of what their testimonies were. 00:00:39.200 --> 00:00:45.439 There's nothing that any of those kids said in that video that doesn't apply to every person in this room. 00:00:47.759 --> 00:00:51.840 They're seeking to know the will of God for their life. 00:00:52.079 --> 00:00:55.359 Are you seeking to know the will of God for your life? 00:00:57.119 --> 00:00:59.200 Our one determining factor. 00:00:59.439 --> 00:01:04.560 How do we know what God wants us to do? 00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:13.200 Here in Genesis 22, I think we have an amazing story of what could have instructed Abraham. 00:01:14.959 --> 00:01:24.239 What could have influenced him in making a decision based on his instructions. 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.719 One determining factor. 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:34.879 Let's see if you can find it as I read this passage together. 00:01:35.200 --> 00:01:44.879 And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:02:00.239 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 one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of. 00:02:01.840 --> 00:02:06.879 And Abraham rose up early in the morning and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him. 00:02:08.159 --> 00:02:15.199 And Isaac his son enclaved the wood for the burnt offering and rose up and went unto the place of which God told him. 00:02:15.840 --> 00:02:20.719 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. 00:02:21.360 --> 00:02:27.919 And Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder, and what's the word, church? 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:28.560 Worship. 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:30.080 Worship. 00:02:31.759 --> 00:02:33.439 And come again to you. 00:02:35.439 --> 00:02:44.319 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac his son, and he took the knife, the fire in his hand, and a knife, and they went both of them together. 00:02:44.639 --> 00:02:51.120 And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and he said, My father, and he said, Here am I my son. 00:02:51.199 --> 00:02:56.400 And he said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 00:02:57.199 --> 00:03:05.120 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. 00:03:06.560 --> 00:03:08.879 So they went both of them together. 00:03:09.199 --> 00:03:19.439 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 upon the altar of wood. 00:03:19.599 --> 00:03:29.759 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, Here am I. 00:03:30.000 --> 00:03:42.479 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 that thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, from me. 00:03:43.520 --> 00:03:49.520 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns. 00:03:49.680 --> 00:03:54.159 And Abraham went and took the ram, and he offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:02.639 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah Jirah, as it is to this day in the mountain of the Lord it shall be seen. 00:04:02.879 --> 00:04:05.360 Father, thank you for the reading of your word. 00:04:07.360 --> 00:04:09.840 Teach us, Lord, the one thing. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:14.080 As we move forward by faith, and we praise you in Jesus' name. 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:14.800 Amen. 00:04:14.960 --> 00:04:16.959 Thank you for standing and be seated together. 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:30.879 As I think about my life, I think about the ministry of the Calvary Baptist Church, opportunities that God is presenting to us as a church family, steps of faith that lay ahead for us. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:39.519 What is the one determining factor when you think about your life? 00:04:40.399 --> 00:04:50.399 I've often said people move to a different town and buy a house and a car and take a job and never never even think to acknowledge God. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:01.439 Heard people who've said to me, Yeah, we moved to this town and I had a good job and we bought a house, and I never thought if there was a good church there. 00:05:03.040 --> 00:05:07.439 I think they might have missed the one determining factor. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:16.399 There's so many things that could have influenced Abraham to make a different decision. 00:05:18.399 --> 00:05:20.079 We're going to look at those. 00:05:20.959 --> 00:05:35.519 But ultimately, it's the one thing that God does is the thing that we must do when we come to that place of decision in our lives. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:43.279 And it's very difficult for me to hold the good news in, but I'm going to try to hold it to myself until I give it to you in time. 00:05:43.519 --> 00:05:50.720 So if you're writing some notes or taking score at home, number one, I want us to think about resistible factors. 00:05:51.759 --> 00:05:53.279 Resistible factors. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:06:02.480 And I was thinking about those factors in Abraham's life that would have persuaded him to not obey the Lord. 00:06:03.120 --> 00:06:06.879 First of all, I thought about physical reasons. 00:06:08.240 --> 00:06:16.800 Take now thine son, thine only son Isaac, and offer him there for a burnt offering upon the mountains, which I will tell thee of. 00:06:17.199 --> 00:06:20.240 I thought about his hands. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.399 His hands are to love and to provide. 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:32.560 It was these hands of Moses that held that little boy of promise, these maybe 13 or 14 years before. 00:06:32.800 --> 00:06:36.319 The hands that had picked him up when he was teaching him how to ride a bicycle. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:40.319 I'm sure in the Old Testament they had something similar to a bicycle. 00:06:40.639 --> 00:06:45.680 He picked him up, he dusted him off, he taught him how to throw a ball, those hands. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:54.319 I think there's a physical reason that was resistible to Abraham not to obey the voice of God. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:06:58.160 I think there were some domestic reasons. 00:07:00.399 --> 00:07:02.399 This is the son of promise. 00:07:03.279 --> 00:07:07.360 This is the child that they've waited for for a hundred years. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:18.720 When God began to speak to Abram at 75 years of age, he promised him a family, a son, a seed, and a soil. 00:07:21.040 --> 00:07:28.720 And at 99 years old, God appears to him and says, At a set time within the year, you're going to hold the son of promise. 00:07:29.120 --> 00:07:41.839 Me and my wife, Abraham could say, waited for a century on the promise of God to come, and now it would seem as if God's request doesn't meet our domestic interest. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:48.959 Maybe his domestic reason for not sacrificing Isaac would be his wife. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:50.480 Can you imagine? 00:07:51.519 --> 00:08:12.000 Telling Sarah of this plot, of what God has asked him to do, I can only imagine in the story that it would be a bitter pill, a difficult conversation, to say the least, for Abraham to persuade Sarai to obey the voice of God. 00:08:12.160 --> 00:08:15.920 There would be domestic reasons not to follow through in this plan. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.839 Then there's the blended family. 00:08:22.639 --> 00:08:34.879 Thinking about Isaac's age at this period, most Bible teachers say that Isaac's somewhere around the 13 or 14 year mark of life, and I began to put some pieces together. 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:42.240 Abram lay with Hagar when he was 86 years of age. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:49.360 And Ishmael was a little boy, a teenager, when Isaac was born, and he began to pick on him. 00:08:50.480 --> 00:08:57.919 And God said to Abraham that there was a decision that needed to be made about this blended family. 00:08:58.159 --> 00:09:03.840 Now keep in mind, guys, it was Sarai's advice that got them into this mess in the first place. 00:09:06.000 --> 00:09:08.960 Go lay with my handmaid, have a seed of her. 00:09:10.399 --> 00:09:14.639 Well that that sounded good on paper until it was in living color. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:21.600 And now God is coming to Abram again at the behest of Sarai, who says they have to go. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:32.159 Now, guys, I don't want to be a smart eloquer, but if I'm Abraham, I'm probably saying to Sarai, it was your advice that got us into this mess, and it's not your advice that's going to get us out. 00:09:32.399 --> 00:09:37.919 And God comes to Abram and says, No, no, no, hearken unto the voice of Sarai, thy wife. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:43.279 And I will tell you, guys, I've known some guys that should have listened to their wives just a little bit more. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:44.720 Thank you, ladies. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:51.519 I thought I'd get a few rousing, hallelujah, revival, kick the back pleat out of your choir robe, amens on that one. 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.000 Domestic reasons. 00:09:54.320 --> 00:10:14.799 So now Isaac is probably about the age that Ishmael was when Ishmael and Hagar had to leave the family, and so this blended family would be quite a mess, and it might send some mixed signals that this was the seed of promise when Ishmael was of the flesh and not of the spirit, and it would just produce a lot of domestic confusion in the family. 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:18.799 Domestic reasons. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:24.399 How about some national reasons? 00:10:25.200 --> 00:10:28.879 This is not just one couple having a baby. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.320 This happens every day of the year. 00:10:32.639 --> 00:10:35.279 This is a quite a different situation. 00:10:36.240 --> 00:10:44.480 Yahweh, the I Am is the God of Abraham and Jacob. 00:10:45.919 --> 00:10:47.759 This is a big deal. 00:10:48.399 --> 00:11:00.000 And the reason this is a big deal is because this seed is one of promise that will be in a long line of generations that will lead to the birth of Messiah. 00:11:01.440 --> 00:11:04.799 That Ishmael was a sign, this is what the flesh can do. 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:08.559 Isaac is a sign of this is what only God can do. 00:11:09.519 --> 00:11:13.200 Ishmael was a sign of men taking matters into their own hands. 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:18.399 Isaac was the symbol of God's mighty hands doing what men cannot do. 00:11:19.440 --> 00:11:34.639 Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, the tribes of Israel, David and Solomon to the generation of the Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem 2,000 years later. 00:11:36.639 --> 00:11:43.360 This child is the progenitor of the nation of Israel. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:49.200 This child is the progenitor of the people, of Messiah, of Jesus Himself. 00:11:50.159 --> 00:11:51.840 This is a big deal. 00:11:53.360 --> 00:12:13.519 And if you've told me that Ishmael is not the promised one, you've told me that Isaac is the promised one, and if this seed will produce this universal Savior, there is no other way for salvation but through Isaac himself. 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:22.320 There's a national reason, there's a physical reason, there's a domestic reason. 00:12:25.039 --> 00:12:27.679 Number four, there's a spiritual reason. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:33.840 It is our one determining factor. 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:36.879 Do you know what it is yet? 00:12:37.759 --> 00:12:39.039 How many of you think you know? 00:12:39.279 --> 00:12:40.240 Don't blurt it out. 00:12:40.480 --> 00:12:42.000 You'll ruin the quiz. 00:12:42.159 --> 00:12:44.879 How many of you think you know the one determining factor? 00:12:45.120 --> 00:12:46.799 We raise your hand, you think you know. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:50.320 Okay, Pastor Stewart back there thinks he knows the one determining factor. 00:12:50.480 --> 00:12:52.399 Anybody else you think you know the one determining factor? 00:12:52.559 --> 00:12:53.120 Okay, here it is. 00:12:53.200 --> 00:12:54.320 I'm gonna give it to you. 00:12:55.679 --> 00:13:36.559 And it came to pass after these things that God did tempt Abraham and said unto him, verse two, and he said unto him, listen, the one determining factor is not what Sarah might think, what Ishmael might think, what Hagar might think, what the nation of Israel might become, what Abraham's feelings are about his participation in this sacrifice, one determining factor is God told me to do it. 00:13:39.919 --> 00:13:43.120 God spoke to me to do it. 00:13:43.679 --> 00:13:48.879 Yeah, but no, God led me to do this. 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:54.480 Now, can we be honest together about this? 00:13:54.639 --> 00:14:09.919 How many of us, when God speaks to us, we begin to inform God of our personal domestic reasons why we cannot do what he's asked us to do. 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:12.159 If you're with me, can you say an amen? 00:14:12.960 --> 00:14:15.600 We've gotten really good at informing God. 00:14:16.960 --> 00:14:28.080 God says to Ananias, I want you to go down into the city and I want you to go to a certain place, and there is a spiritual hitman. 00:14:32.399 --> 00:14:33.759 He cannot see. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:39.759 When you find him, you'll know it's him because he's praying. 00:14:40.320 --> 00:14:43.600 And I want you to call him brother, and I want you to encourage him. 00:14:43.759 --> 00:14:47.840 I want you to take him with you to Barnabas, who can introduce him to the church? 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:49.200 And what does Ananias say? 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:51.200 Oh, wait a minute. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:58.879 I I know you're the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, eternal, all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful God. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:07.200 I know that, but did you know what activities he was just involved in? 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:15.120 Have you ever known any members of the CBI, the Christian Bureau of Investigation? 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:21.039 And we inform God of things that we need to relay to his attention. 00:15:21.200 --> 00:15:23.519 Oh, but wait, there's one determining factor. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:27.679 God said to Ananias, Go and speak to him. 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.519 And that is the one determining factor. 00:15:31.840 --> 00:15:32.480 Listen. 00:15:34.320 --> 00:15:41.840 Opportunity doesn't always meet obligation, but we must know what God wants us to do. 00:15:42.000 --> 00:15:52.240 And the way we know what to do is we hear the voice of our shepherd, and despite all these other factors, we follow him as he leads us and speaks to us. 00:15:52.480 --> 00:15:57.360 We step out on faith because that's our one determining factor. 00:15:58.720 --> 00:16:00.559 So there are resistible factors. 00:16:00.720 --> 00:16:05.440 Notice number two, I want you to think about reasons for Abraham's obedience. 00:16:05.679 --> 00:16:12.399 There are good reasons that he can trust this unknown process to a proven God. 00:16:14.720 --> 00:16:16.559 There's three things I thought about here. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:21.600 Number one, I want you to think about God's continued direction in Abraham's life. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.360 The first time we meet him is at the end of Genesis 11. 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:34.480 Genesis 11 begins with Nimrod in the building of the Tower of Babel, and there in the Mesopotamia, in the city of Ur, is a polytheistic family. 00:16:36.159 --> 00:16:45.440 And a son, whose name is Abram, who grows up in a garden of gods, and his father comes up out of Ur and gets to Haran, and he stays there. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:51.039 And God appears to Abram and says, Get you up out of your kindred from your father's house. 00:16:51.360 --> 00:16:53.840 Go pursue a land of which I will tell thee. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:55.679 Well, where is it? 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:56.639 Just follow. 00:16:58.399 --> 00:17:00.000 When will we get there? 00:17:00.639 --> 00:17:01.840 When I tell you. 00:17:03.519 --> 00:17:04.880 Just follow me. 00:17:05.119 --> 00:17:07.359 So Abraham leaves Ur, he comes to Haran. 00:17:07.519 --> 00:17:10.240 From Haran, he takes a trip into Canaan. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:12.000 He comes through Canaan down into Egypt. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:13.119 He comes back into Canaan. 00:17:13.200 --> 00:17:21.119 And now this journey to Moriah is just the latest installment in a journey in which Abraham is learning to walk by faith. 00:17:21.920 --> 00:17:30.640 Can I just say, as God has directed us in our lives, there's no need at this point in the Christian life to doubt him now. 00:17:33.440 --> 00:17:35.359 Has God directed your life? 00:17:36.559 --> 00:17:38.559 You can say amen if you if you'd like to. 00:17:38.720 --> 00:17:40.480 Has God led your steps? 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:42.720 There's no need to doubt him now. 00:17:43.279 --> 00:17:55.200 God's continued direction in Abraham's life ought to dictate to him that the God who led me out of Ur, who's revealed himself to me as the I am, and he's made a promise to me, he's made a covenant with me. 00:17:55.279 --> 00:18:12.319 We could talk about the events of chapter 15 and 17 and 19 and how God has sustained him and cared for him and ministered to him and used him as a mediator, that it is the same God that's been with him every step of the way is the same God that will not forsake him to his own devices. 00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:13.279 He's with him now. 00:18:13.359 --> 00:18:15.599 And I just want to say God is with you now. 00:18:15.759 --> 00:18:17.680 He's with us now, he's with me now. 00:18:17.920 --> 00:18:20.160 He's not left us, he's not forsaken us. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:21.519 God's continued direction. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:22.640 How about number two? 00:18:22.799 --> 00:18:24.720 How about Abraham's next steps? 00:18:24.880 --> 00:18:27.599 Now, let's take a little journey in our Bibles here. 00:18:27.920 --> 00:18:32.160 Use your Bible if you have it there, or your iPhone or iPad. 00:18:32.319 --> 00:18:34.880 Okay, Genesis chapter 12, look at verse 4. 00:18:35.039 --> 00:18:38.079 I just want you to notice, notice what happens here. 00:18:39.839 --> 00:18:41.279 Genesis 12, verse 4. 00:18:41.440 --> 00:18:44.799 So Abram departed, as the Lord had spoken unto him. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:49.119 And Lot went with him, and Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed out of Haran. 00:18:49.279 --> 00:18:53.839 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his uh brother's son, and all their substance. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.839 And they they had gathered, that they had gathered, and the souls that they had gotten in Haran, and they went forth to go into the land of Canaan. 00:19:00.240 --> 00:19:08.319 Into the land of Canaan they came, and Abram passed through the land, unto the place of Sikkim, unto the plain of Mora, and the Canaanite was then in the land. 00:19:08.400 --> 00:19:12.240 And the Lord appeared unto Abraham and speaks unto him. 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:16.559 Abram's on a journey, verse eight, and he removed from fence, verse nine. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:21.680 Abraham, Abram journeyed, going on still toward the south. 00:19:22.079 --> 00:19:25.680 Then go to chapter 13 and verse number three. 00:19:25.920 --> 00:19:35.119 And he went on his journeys from the south even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and Hai. 00:19:35.519 --> 00:19:37.839 He's just he's following, he's journeying. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:41.359 Look at chapter 20, if you will, in verse number one. 00:19:41.759 --> 00:19:46.079 And Abraham journeyed from thence toward the south country. 00:19:46.160 --> 00:19:47.359 He's on a journey. 00:19:47.599 --> 00:19:49.039 Okay, how does he do that? 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:50.400 Well, he's walking. 00:19:50.559 --> 00:19:51.200 He's walking. 00:19:51.279 --> 00:19:52.480 Let's go back to chapter 13. 00:19:52.559 --> 00:19:53.440 Let's trace his steps. 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:55.039 Okay, so we've journeyed with him. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:56.640 Now let's let's walk with him. 00:19:56.880 --> 00:19:59.279 Chapter 13, verse 17. 00:19:59.519 --> 00:20:05.359 Arise, walk through the land in the length of it and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. 00:20:05.599 --> 00:20:06.559 Chapter 17. 00:20:07.039 --> 00:20:09.039 Chapter 17, verse 1. 00:20:09.200 --> 00:20:17.440 And when Abram was 90 years old and nine, the Lord appeared to him and said unto him, I am the Almighty God, walk before me, and be thou perfect. 00:20:17.599 --> 00:20:20.319 Chapter 18, very quickly, verse 22. 00:20:20.559 --> 00:20:25.359 The scripture says, And the men turned their faces from fence and went toward Sodom. 00:20:25.440 --> 00:20:29.200 But Abraham stood before the Lord, and Abraham drew near. 00:20:29.279 --> 00:20:31.359 He's journeying, he's walking with God. 00:20:31.440 --> 00:20:41.039 So when we get to chapter 22, back to our text, verse number four, then on the third day, Abram lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off, and he continues to walk. 00:20:41.200 --> 00:20:48.079 Listen, this chapter is just the next installment of a series of next right steps. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:51.200 Just keep walking. 00:20:51.680 --> 00:20:52.559 Well, where are we going? 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:53.519 And when will we get there? 00:20:53.599 --> 00:20:54.400 And what will it look like? 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:55.200 Wait a minute. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:56.799 Just keep walking. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:20:59.599 If God is speaking, just keep following him. 00:21:00.880 --> 00:21:05.519 I feel sorry for, I think about the testimonies of these kids. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:11.039 We put so much pressure on young people to try to figure out so many things about their lives. 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.599 Do you want that pressure for you? 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:19.039 Three of them talked about controlling their future. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:26.079 Listen, many things about tomorrow I don't seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know he holds my hand. 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:31.119 And I know that when I get to tomorrow, God will be there because he is already there. 00:21:31.920 --> 00:21:33.519 Just keep walking. 00:21:33.920 --> 00:21:34.799 Just keep walking. 00:21:34.960 --> 00:21:35.920 So what do they talk about? 00:21:36.079 --> 00:21:38.000 Reading the Bible, praying, being faithful to church. 00:21:38.079 --> 00:21:38.960 You know what they're learning? 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:44.160 They're learning if I'm going to get to the end of the destination, I've got to take the next right step. 00:21:44.400 --> 00:21:49.920 And for some of us, it's getting up in the morning and just reading God's word and letting him speak to us. 00:21:51.519 --> 00:21:54.960 Praying and seeking his face, doing the next right thing. 00:21:55.119 --> 00:22:01.200 We we we so fixate on not knowing what to do, and we don't do the things that we Know to do. 00:22:01.680 --> 00:22:04.640 Oh, I'm saying that there's reasons for his obedience. 00:22:04.880 --> 00:22:06.880 God had continually led him. 00:22:07.359 --> 00:22:09.920 Abram was walking with God step by step. 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:12.160 The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. 00:22:12.319 --> 00:22:14.480 He delighteth in his way. 00:22:14.720 --> 00:22:16.559 There's a third thought I had here. 00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.279 It's regarding God's covenant. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:23.200 Now God had made a covenant with Abraham. 00:22:23.359 --> 00:22:25.519 And I ask you this question. 00:22:27.599 --> 00:22:31.200 Did Abraham have a covenantal reason? 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:33.359 A covenantal promise? 00:22:34.240 --> 00:22:39.599 A covenantal caveat or exemption in the fine print? 00:22:40.720 --> 00:22:46.319 Did he have an exemption to disobey God in chapter 22? 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:56.960 Can you find anywhere in black and white, and sometimes red, can you find in black and white anywhere that Abram had an escape clause from obeying this command of God? 00:22:57.119 --> 00:22:58.480 How many of you say no? 00:22:58.960 --> 00:23:00.960 He has no reason to disobey. 00:23:01.359 --> 00:23:02.559 Now, check it out. 00:23:02.799 --> 00:23:04.799 He doesn't have to understand it. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:07.359 He doesn't have to agree with it. 00:23:07.680 --> 00:23:11.839 He doesn't have to understand all the implications of it, but he does have to do one thing. 00:23:12.160 --> 00:23:14.640 He has to obey. 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:15.920 Why? 00:23:17.440 --> 00:23:19.519 Because Sarah said not to, no. 00:23:20.799 --> 00:23:27.039 Because his servants questioned why he's taken wood and fire and no lamb and a knife in his hand. 00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:27.440 No. 00:23:27.599 --> 00:23:28.960 Why is he doing this? 00:23:29.279 --> 00:23:31.119 Because God said so. 00:23:31.759 --> 00:23:35.200 That's our one, that's our one determining factor. 00:23:36.960 --> 00:23:41.359 Number three, I want us to think about the results of obedience. 00:23:43.119 --> 00:23:46.079 When he obeys, watch. 00:23:46.319 --> 00:23:50.799 When he obeys, it's not as bad as he thinks it is. 00:23:52.319 --> 00:23:57.039 I make a very non-masculine confession to you guys. 00:23:58.079 --> 00:24:00.319 I hate needles. 00:24:01.440 --> 00:24:03.279 How many of you are with me? 00:24:03.839 --> 00:24:04.799 A few of you. 00:24:05.039 --> 00:24:11.359 When I go to the doctor, after they diagnosed me with white coat syndrome, how many of you know what white coat syndrome is? 00:24:11.519 --> 00:24:11.839 Okay. 00:24:12.319 --> 00:24:13.359 But you'll be proud of me. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:14.880 I did very well today. 00:24:15.440 --> 00:24:16.240 Very well today. 00:24:16.400 --> 00:24:20.160 My blood pressure did not spike when they came in and began talking to me. 00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.240 My palms did not become sweaty. 00:24:22.400 --> 00:24:24.559 But they normally ask me, are you allergic to anything? 00:24:24.720 --> 00:24:26.559 And I inevitably say, yes. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:29.599 Pain and needles. 00:24:30.000 --> 00:24:32.720 I'm deathly allergic to them. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:34.160 But you know what? 00:24:35.920 --> 00:24:38.559 It's not as bad as you think it's going to be. 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:44.559 What Abraham has created in his own mind that this is going to look like? 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:46.880 It doesn't look like that at all. 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:53.920 For time and perpetuity, we call this chapter the sacrifice of Isaac. 00:24:54.160 --> 00:24:55.119 Do we not? 00:24:55.359 --> 00:24:58.000 How many of you have called this story the sacrifice of Isaac? 00:24:58.240 --> 00:25:01.519 Okay, what does not happen in this story? 00:25:02.400 --> 00:25:04.240 The sacrifice of Isaac. 00:25:04.480 --> 00:25:08.720 We ought to call this chapter the emancipation of Isaac. 00:25:08.960 --> 00:25:11.759 We should call this the resurrection of Isaac. 00:25:11.920 --> 00:25:16.480 We should call this Abraham's greatest victory of faith. 00:25:16.720 --> 00:25:18.640 It's not the sacrifice of Isaac. 00:25:18.799 --> 00:25:23.200 Listen, when you step out on faith, it's not as bad as you think it's going to be. 00:25:23.279 --> 00:25:23.599 Why? 00:25:23.839 --> 00:25:31.279 Because when you make that step towards God, He's already there, and He is our solid foundation when we step out by faith. 00:25:34.240 --> 00:25:37.440 So there's some rewards for faithfulness. 00:25:38.160 --> 00:25:41.359 Number one, when you write down the gospel. 00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:47.200 Wherever you are in the Bible, make a beeline for the cross, cut the Bible anywhere, you'll find the blood of Jesus. 00:25:47.279 --> 00:25:49.599 It just really bleeds heavily right here. 00:25:51.119 --> 00:26:03.359 So we have a story of a father who has a son of promise who is born who is an only son, and it's stated that he's not just the only son, it's that the son really loves him. 00:26:04.000 --> 00:26:08.319 He's born without a physical explanation. 00:26:09.039 --> 00:26:15.119 Hebrews says that Abram was past age, Sarah was incapable of having children. 00:26:15.200 --> 00:26:19.680 It was at that moment of impossibility that God stepped in. 00:26:21.119 --> 00:26:23.599 Don't you want God to step into the impossible? 00:26:25.359 --> 00:26:54.400 So we have a father, we have a son, a miraculously conceived son, a son of promise, a son loved of his father, who is told to go to the mountains of Moriah, which, oh, by the way, is the modern city of Jerusalem, and on the mountain that God will show him, I want you to take that son that you love, and I want you to offer him as a not a sacrifice, the word is a burnt offering, a holocaust, a whole offering in smoke. 00:26:56.720 --> 00:27:11.599 And so the Bible says that they took their journey, and three days' journey, three days in the distance, Abraham says to his servants, just sit here, mountains three days afar off. 00:27:12.640 --> 00:27:16.240 Me and Isaac are going to worship, and we're going to come again to you. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:19.680 Now that's really cool. 00:27:19.920 --> 00:27:27.119 Because they're going to the city of Jerusalem, and for three days Isaac is dead in the mind of his father. 00:27:27.440 --> 00:27:34.880 At some point up the mountain, Isaac begins to put two and two together. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:41.200 There's fire, there's the wood, there's sacrifice, but where's the lamb? 00:27:41.599 --> 00:27:50.799 And finally, he gets the gumption to ask his father, hey Dad, I noticed you didn't pack something for our camping trip. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:56.000 I see the fire and I see the wood and I see the knife, but I don't see a lamb. 00:27:56.240 --> 00:28:00.720 And Abraham makes one of the early great prophetic statements in all the Bible. 00:28:00.799 --> 00:28:01.839 We read it a moment ago. 00:28:02.000 --> 00:28:08.960 Abraham said, My son, God, will provide himself a lamb for the burnt offering. 00:28:09.920 --> 00:28:11.680 That ought to make a Baptist job. 00:28:14.160 --> 00:28:16.400 So he gets to the top of the mountain. 00:28:16.720 --> 00:28:19.519 He lays the wood in order. 00:28:19.759 --> 00:28:23.519 He takes that son and he puts him on the offering. 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:32.000 Now, what does Isaac say when his father straps him to the cording, holding a fire in his hand? 00:28:32.480 --> 00:28:37.920 As the sheep to the slaughter is dumb, Isaac did not open his mouth. 00:28:38.160 --> 00:28:40.079 He didn't say, Dad, you can't do this. 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:44.000 I'm the son, I'm the only son, I'm the one you love, I'm the son of promise. 00:28:44.799 --> 00:28:47.200 Let me go free to take Ishmael. 00:28:47.279 --> 00:28:48.160 Don't take me. 00:28:48.400 --> 00:28:49.680 He doesn't protest. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:53.119 He says, nothing. 00:28:56.160 --> 00:29:08.559 And in the city of Jerusalem on a mountain, two thousand years later, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the city as the Lamb of God. 00:29:10.960 --> 00:29:13.359 As a lamb before the sears is dumb. 00:29:13.519 --> 00:29:16.480 When he was reviled, he reviled not again. 00:29:16.799 --> 00:29:18.240 He opens not his mouth. 00:29:18.400 --> 00:29:21.920 They nail him to an old rugged cross. 00:29:22.559 --> 00:29:29.359 And on the same mountain, he offers himself as a sacrifice. 00:29:29.599 --> 00:29:31.759 So here's Abraham. 00:29:32.400 --> 00:29:34.480 He's got the knife in his hand. 00:29:35.279 --> 00:29:38.799 He's readying himself to do the unthinkable. 00:29:40.400 --> 00:29:41.839 How many of you are with me? 00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.480 He's about to do the unthinkable. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:53.279 And at that moment when Abraham is to plunge that dead knife into the living heart of his boy. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:29:56.720 God stays his hand. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:00.000 No, no, no, no, no. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:07.200 About that time you can hear the rustling of a ram caught in the thicket. 00:30:08.319 --> 00:30:12.960 And Isaac goes free, and the ram is slaughtered. 00:30:15.200 --> 00:30:16.880 Now, what do you think about? 00:30:18.160 --> 00:30:29.440 What do you think about those servants that watched Abraham leave three days ago when he comes back the other side of the mountain singing, Down at the cross where my Savior died? 00:30:30.880 --> 00:30:34.799 Glory! Glory to his name. 00:30:36.799 --> 00:30:41.440 You know what one of the rewards of obedience was? 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:54.079 Abraham and Isaac, two thousand years before Calvary, put on a passion play inspired in Scripture for all of us to read. 00:30:54.640 --> 00:30:55.759 The gospel. 00:30:56.240 --> 00:31:03.680 Matter of fact, Galatians 3.8, the Bible says that the gospel was before preached unto Abraham. 00:31:04.079 --> 00:31:05.200 It's preached. 00:31:05.599 --> 00:31:06.400 Right here. 00:31:08.559 --> 00:31:09.680 But there's there's two more. 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:11.359 I'll get them get them to you quickly. 00:31:13.279 --> 00:31:14.640 Notice verse 17. 00:31:14.799 --> 00:31:17.920 The second result of obedience is multiplication. 00:31:20.640 --> 00:31:21.759 Verse 17. 00:31:23.359 --> 00:31:26.559 Abraham, you have you've taken the ultimate step here. 00:31:26.799 --> 00:31:35.599 You have proven to me that there is nothing in your life more meaningful to you than me. 00:31:36.960 --> 00:31:41.839 Love so amazing, so divine, demands our soul, our life, our all. 00:31:42.480 --> 00:31:46.960 You can't love God and love Isaac in rebellion against God. 00:31:48.240 --> 00:31:51.759 He loves God so intimately. 00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:57.119 He's willing to gain in the Christian life by subtraction. 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:06.960 But when you start playing the subtraction game with God, God starts playing the multiplication game in your life. 00:32:07.440 --> 00:32:14.240 He is no fool to give what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose. 00:32:14.559 --> 00:32:17.759 That in multiplying, verse 17, I will bless thee. 00:32:19.279 --> 00:32:28.400 In multiplying, I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, as the sandwich is upon the seashore, and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. 00:32:30.400 --> 00:32:31.599 You may want to write this down. 00:32:31.759 --> 00:32:35.440 The way to have more of what you need is to give what you have. 00:32:38.160 --> 00:32:39.440 Give what you have. 00:32:41.519 --> 00:32:42.799 Multiplication. 00:32:43.039 --> 00:32:46.160 Well, there's a third one here, and this one's going to really shock you. 00:32:46.640 --> 00:32:49.599 You're willing to give me the one son you waited a hundred years to have? 00:32:49.920 --> 00:32:51.200 You're willing to give him to me. 00:32:51.440 --> 00:32:52.079 Yes. 00:32:52.559 --> 00:32:53.680 You're willing to prove it? 00:32:53.920 --> 00:32:54.559 Yes. 00:32:54.960 --> 00:32:56.000 Awesome. 00:32:56.319 --> 00:33:01.440 Remember how impossible it was for that man that was a hundred years old to bring a child into this world? 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:02.880 You remember that story? 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:04.319 Well, check this out. 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:06.720 Look at verse 20. 00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:31.680 It came to pass after these things that it was told Abraham saying, Behold, Milka, she hath also borne children unto thy brother Nahor, Huz, his firstborn, and Buzz his brother and Kimuel, the father of Aram, and Hesed and Hazo, and Pildash, and Zidlaf, and Bethuel, and Bethel begat Rebekah, and these eight Milkah did bear to Nahor, Abraham's brother, and his concubine, and so forth. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:32.640 You know what happened here? 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:34.640 The family began to grow. 00:33:38.240 --> 00:33:40.160 The family began to grow. 00:33:41.039 --> 00:33:45.599 That family of faith that God had spoken to him about begins to grow. 00:33:45.680 --> 00:33:46.000 Why? 00:33:46.079 --> 00:33:51.440 He's willing to give to God what God requires. 00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:58.480 God wants to lead our lives. 00:34:01.839 --> 00:34:03.440 He wants to lead our church. 00:34:07.359 --> 00:34:10.639 We have decisions to make moving forward. 00:34:12.559 --> 00:34:13.599 Good decisions. 00:34:14.079 --> 00:34:15.280 Good things to pray about. 00:34:16.000 --> 00:34:18.000 What's the one determining factor? 00:34:20.239 --> 00:34:21.119