SPEAKER_00: As Mark said, please do uh grab your Bibles.
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we're gonna be in Genesis 22, so please do grab them, open them there, and that is where I'm gonna be reading uh from in a moment.
SPEAKER_00: Let me just get my tablets set up.
SPEAKER_00: Okay, Genesis 22, verse 1.
SPEAKER_00: After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Take your son, your only son, whom you love, and go to the land of Moria, and offer offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and 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.
SPEAKER_00: On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
SPEAKER_00: 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 to you again.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took in his hand the fire and the knife.
SPEAKER_00: So they both so they so they went both of them together, sorry.
SPEAKER_00: And Isaac said to his father, My father, and he said, Here I am, my son.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?
SPEAKER_00: Abraham said, God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
SPEAKER_00: So whether so they went both of them together.
SPEAKER_00: When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order in order, and bound Isaac his son, laid him on the altar on top of the wood.
SPEAKER_00: Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
SPEAKER_00: But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do not lay a hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his thorns.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham called the name of the place, the Lord will provide.
SPEAKER_00: As it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.
SPEAKER_00: And 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, 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 obeyed my voice.
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba, and Abraham lived at Beersheba.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: Please do uh keep that open.
SPEAKER_00: That's where we'll be, and I want you to uh be able to follow along as I lead us in this time.
SPEAKER_00: But please pray with me as we come to God's word.
SPEAKER_00: Loving Father, I thank you that we come before you, the God who knows each and every one of us, the God who has spoken through your word, and I pray as we come, would you help us to be focused on what you have to say?
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that your word is alive and active, that your word speaks to us in the midst of every situation that we go through and every circumstance.
SPEAKER_00: So I pray, would you speak?
SPEAKER_00: Each person who is here by your Holy Spirit, would you move, would you encourage, would you help them?
SPEAKER_00: And would we all be reassured and and and see you as the God who provides?
SPEAKER_00: Bless us, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: Speak to us by the power of your word through your spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: There are moments in your life where it can feel as though your very world is crushed.
SPEAKER_00: You can feel as though you have no clue of what will or won't happen.
SPEAKER_00: There are times when you hear about your health and you think, what now?
SPEAKER_00: There are times when you find there you no longer have a job, you lose your job and and you wonder what is gonna happen, how is there gonna be a way forward for me?
SPEAKER_00: There are times when you have to stand by and watch someone you love die, and and the grief is so much that you wonder how will you move past this?
SPEAKER_00: How will you be able to continue on?
SPEAKER_00: The fact is, no matter who we are, every person in this world has been touched in a way like this because of the brokenness of sin itself.
SPEAKER_00: There is not one of us who will not or won't have a moment where we don't have a clue what will happen.
SPEAKER_00: We have no clue.
SPEAKER_00: Wondering what God is gonna do in the midst of that situation.
SPEAKER_00: Wondering where is He?
SPEAKER_00: Right now, many of us feel confused in this season, in this situation, as our world is being captured by this virus.
SPEAKER_00: The thing that I constantly hear is people are constantly saying they're not in control.
SPEAKER_00: They realize they are not in control, and they're wondering what to do because we don't have a clue what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a clue what will come at the end of this time.
SPEAKER_00: And for Christians, for us as Christians, we can feel this too.
SPEAKER_00: We can think these things, we can wonder where is God?
SPEAKER_00: Is God really holding things together?
SPEAKER_00: Is He really doing everything?
SPEAKER_00: As Genesis 22 was read, we can simply see this story and think it's a nice story.
SPEAKER_00: Because we see the beginning from the end, we see the complete story and we think, oh, that's nice, isn't it?
SPEAKER_00: It's a good story.
SPEAKER_00: But the fact is, Abraham does not know exactly what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: He did not have a roadmap to tell him these are the details, this is exactly what is gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: But he did have faith.
SPEAKER_00: Faith in the one who knows the beginning from the end, faith in the one who does hold control of all things and every situation, faith in the one who has always been faithful toward him.
SPEAKER_00: And for us, we may not have heard the voice of God in the way that Abraham does here, but do not be unaware of his hand, his control, his authority over all things.
SPEAKER_00: Nothing happens outside of his control.
SPEAKER_00: In every season of your life, whether it's a good season or a difficult one, a painful one, he is at work.
SPEAKER_00: The question for us is do we have faith in him?
SPEAKER_00: In that, do we have faith in him?
SPEAKER_00: Or or do we have faith more in the situation?
SPEAKER_00: Are we so overcome by the situation we just can't see God in it?
SPEAKER_00: We can't trust God in it.
SPEAKER_00: As we walk through this passage, praying that God would speak to us, let us consider the call to Abraham, the response from Abraham, and the answer from God.
SPEAKER_00: The call to Abraham, for many of us as Christians, Genesis 22 is something we know.
SPEAKER_00: We've we've heard this story, we were comfortable with it, we've heard it at bedtimes, we've heard it in Sunday school.
SPEAKER_00: For me, I've I've heard this story majority of my life, I've known it.
SPEAKER_00: I've known this story.
SPEAKER_00: And it's so easy when you know something, when you become comfortable with something that you miss it.
SPEAKER_00: You miss to appreciate the significance of what's happening.
SPEAKER_00: We lose the ability to actually hear and appreciate the narrative itself because we know it, we're comfortable with it.
SPEAKER_00: But this is not just a story, this is an event in human history, and it's a striking event.
SPEAKER_00: A time and place where a man named Abraham heard the call of his God, the one true God, the God whom he knew, the God he had walked with for many years of his life, the God who had been faithful and gracious toward him.
SPEAKER_00: And the call comes, and this is the call in verse 2 take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Morir and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I shall tell you.
SPEAKER_00: As a father, though only recently a father, I can't imagine the emotions Abraham would have been feeling here.
SPEAKER_00: Hearing these words, hearing the words from God, hearing this call.
SPEAKER_00: Because God is making a point about Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: Did you see that?
SPEAKER_00: Take your son, your only son, whom you love.
SPEAKER_00: This is not just a call to Abraham to take a son he hates.
SPEAKER_00: This is not some sort of dysfunctional family where the father couldn't care less about the son.
SPEAKER_00: It isn't that Abraham is an evil father and he's just like, I have loads of sons, and and that one I don't really care about, so don't care.
SPEAKER_00: No, he loves his son, he cherishes his son.
SPEAKER_00: These are painful words for him, these are hard words to hear.
SPEAKER_00: Because Abraham's journey has been longing for a child.
SPEAKER_00: Think back to Abraham and Sarah.
SPEAKER_00: Many of you know their situation, and they had been longing for children for their lives.
SPEAKER_00: They'd longed to have children, they had struggled, they had longed for that, but they were not able.
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly, at the age of 75, God calls out to Abraham in Genesis 12, and this is what he says.
SPEAKER_00: He says in Genesis 12, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land I will show you, and I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
SPEAKER_00: You could just imagine Abraham, right?
SPEAKER_00: 75 years of his life without a child, longing with Sarah, his wife, for a child.
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly you hear the voice of God.
SPEAKER_00: You can imagine him returning to Sarah and being like, You don't have a clue what happened.
SPEAKER_00: God spoke to me.
SPEAKER_00: Not just that, but actually he told me about this amazing plan he has for us.
SPEAKER_00: He's gonna make us into a great nation, he's gonna give us a child.
SPEAKER_00: You can imagine the joy, the excitement that he would have had, that he would have in that moment, knowing finally we get to be parents, finally we get to have a child, a child we have longed so desperately for.
SPEAKER_00: And yet they wait and wait twenty five years of waiting, waiting just to see a glimpse of this promise fulfilled.
SPEAKER_00: But the wait does end.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham finally, at the age of a hundred, becomes a father.
SPEAKER_00: Can you just imagine?
SPEAKER_00: Let's go play catch with my son, the age of a hundred.
SPEAKER_00: I don't think they played catch in those days, but anyway.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss that though.
SPEAKER_00: Don't miss the reality.
SPEAKER_00: Twive years it took.
SPEAKER_00: We need to realize the significance of this because Genesis 22 is in context of a man's life and a God he knows.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham knows his God.
SPEAKER_00: He has seen God at work countless times in his life, he has known the character of God, he's been able to see his goodness, his grace, his faithfulness in his life.
SPEAKER_00: He has witnessed God provide for him as son.
SPEAKER_00: But all of that came through faith in God.
SPEAKER_00: He continued and continues in this situation to need to have faith in God, the God who provides, the God who is faithful.
SPEAKER_00: And as God comes to Abraham here, we can feel a right to kind of judge God.
SPEAKER_00: I feel that in myself when I read this passage, it kind of something within me says that I put myself above God because I can think, what is God doing?
SPEAKER_00: How can you think this is right?
SPEAKER_00: Surely this is kind of evil, if not cruel.
SPEAKER_00: Because ultimately, one of the realities this passage does for us, it exposes our hearts, our hearts and our view towards God, a heart that says, I know best, I know more than God knows.
SPEAKER_00: I know what he should do.
SPEAKER_00: Rather than being like Abraham, a man of faith, who though he does not know what God is about to ask, responds with readiness and humility.
SPEAKER_00: Verse one, here I am.
SPEAKER_00: Three words.
SPEAKER_00: But these three words I I really feel reveal a lot about Abraham's heart and his view toward God.
SPEAKER_00: And rather than just passing over that, rushing over that, dwell upon that.
SPEAKER_00: It is clear what is God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: We see that, that God tested Abraham, and and we've read what that test was.
SPEAKER_00: As we hear those words, though, it matters how we view God.
SPEAKER_00: We either hear these words and think God is a God that just messes with people, a God who just is playing a game with Abraham, or we realize He is God.
SPEAKER_00: He is good, He is gracious, He is slow to anger, He is abounding instead of love.
SPEAKER_00: I may not get it, I may not understand it, but there is a plan and a purpose that is beyond what I can know or understand, beyond what I even see.
SPEAKER_00: And surely as we sit here, wherever you're sat, well I presume you're sat, maybe you're standing, wherever you are, as you face this screen, the reality of our limited abilities should be apparent.
SPEAKER_00: It should be apparent right now.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot help but see our helplessness.
SPEAKER_00: We cannot help but see how limited we are, and we hate that.
SPEAKER_00: We hate to feel limited and out of control and not in control of our own lives.
SPEAKER_00: We long to feel as though we have more control and power than we actually do.
SPEAKER_00: But if we are like Abraham, we can accept our limitations, we can cry out to the one who is not limited and declare, here I am.
SPEAKER_00: I know my God, I will not just hear the call, but I will trust him in his call.
SPEAKER_00: At the end of the day, if if Abraham did not know his God, if he didn't know who God was, he would either be rejecting this call or crushed by this call.
SPEAKER_00: If he did not see beyond the call itself to the God who was calling, the God he had walked with.
SPEAKER_00: But Abraham sees it because he's a man of faith and he has faith in his God and he accepts the call, not resisting, not questioning, not believing he knows better.
SPEAKER_00: Because we see this to be true in how he responds.
SPEAKER_00: Look at the response in verse three.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey and 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.
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham rose early.
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
SPEAKER_00: He's just heard these things.
SPEAKER_00: God wasn't just saying, Abraham, go to a place with your son, and and I'll kind of unvo reveal what I'm gonna do there.
SPEAKER_00: No, God has told him the clear reality of what is going to happen.
SPEAKER_00: He does not leave Abraham wondering what's gonna happen.
SPEAKER_00: The call to go and sacrifice your son, kill the one you'd been longing for for so many years.
SPEAKER_00: Go kill the one of promise.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham again reveals his heart towards God.
SPEAKER_00: So Abraham rose early.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't try and draw this out, he doesn't make excuses.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I need to sort this or that.
SPEAKER_00: Because we know what that's like, let's be honest.
SPEAKER_00: You and I know what it's like to need to do something, something really important, and we really don't want to do it.
SPEAKER_00: We think, oh man, I just I just can't be bothered.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's a hard conversation, a tough choice, dealing with practical issues in your life, whatever it is.
SPEAKER_00: And what do we do?
SPEAKER_00: We do everything but the thing we need to do.
SPEAKER_00: We actually might even do things we don't like to do, but they're not as bad as the thing we need to do, so we'll do them to just avoid it.
SPEAKER_00: That's what we do as people.
SPEAKER_00: And here Abraham is not just saying, Oh, right, God, yeah, oh thank you.
SPEAKER_00: Hear you, that's wonderful.
SPEAKER_00: But actually, you see, the thing is, Sarah, you know, Sarah, you know what she's like.
SPEAKER_00: Well, she's actually asked me to be, she's been nagging me for ages to dig this well, so I kind of need to crack on with that before I can do this.
SPEAKER_00: No, Abraham hears this call and his response is immediate.
SPEAKER_00: He hears and he obeys.
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't hang around, but also his response is genuine.
SPEAKER_00: Look at verse 3.
SPEAKER_00: He cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham's not just responding immediately, but actually, his response shows a genuineness.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just hoping on the journey God will change his mind.
SPEAKER_00: He's not just thinking, well, God said this, but really he means this.
SPEAKER_00: No, he he is clear.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham prepares wood, he's ready, he is saying, you know what, this is what you've asked, so I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to do this.
SPEAKER_00: What it does reveal is he is not resting on his own understanding, but in God, the one he loves, the God who loves him.
SPEAKER_00: Too often we can make heroes throughout the Bible, heroes of the faith, some sort of spiritual superhero.
SPEAKER_00: We can we can feel like Abraham's response, of course, he responds.
SPEAKER_00: That way.
SPEAKER_00: It's Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: It's easy for him.
SPEAKER_00: Of course, Abraham responded that way.
SPEAKER_00: He heard the voice of God.
SPEAKER_00: But don't do that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't allow yourself to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Don't make Abraham into something he's not.
SPEAKER_00: He is a man with concerns, with worries, with anxieties.
SPEAKER_00: He's a man not without faults.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham was man like us with sin.
SPEAKER_00: It's key we don't miss this.
SPEAKER_00: So much of our lives is unknown, though we pretend we do know.
SPEAKER_00: We pretend we have answers and the best way forward.
SPEAKER_00: And that's just a lie.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham knew that God was leading him in the best possible way.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't understand it fully.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham knew God was not going to do anything against his own character or his promises.
SPEAKER_00: And for us in this season with COVID-19, how much do we need to realize this, even in the pain and the struggle, that this will turn out for our good.
SPEAKER_00: This will ultimately be what is right and best for us as we continue to have faith in our God, our loving Father.
SPEAKER_00: If we do not just go inward and feel sorry for ourselves in the moment and think about us, but rather we look up.
SPEAKER_00: We look to the one we have our hope in.
SPEAKER_00: Because our hope is not just in this moment, in this life, in this time, but it's into eternity.
SPEAKER_00: Just like Abraham, who had faith, continued fixed on God, fixed not on his circumstances or the situation around him, but on the one whom he loved.
SPEAKER_00: Every season, this is the call of our lives, no matter whether it's this season or another season.
SPEAKER_00: That call does not go away.
SPEAKER_00: When any situation arises, how will you respond?
SPEAKER_00: How will you cope with the weight of it upon your shoulders?
SPEAKER_00: Look at Abraham, verse 4.
SPEAKER_00: On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
SPEAKER_00: Can you imagine Abraham on this journey, the tension he would have been feeling?
SPEAKER_00: It was a three-day journey.
SPEAKER_00: He would have been with his son on this journey, seeing him, being with him.
SPEAKER_00: And finally, he sees it.
SPEAKER_00: He sees the place in which he will sacrifice his son.
SPEAKER_00: As I've considered this, I've thought about Ezra, my son, and just thinking, how?
SPEAKER_00: It must be so much emotion when you look at your son and you think, that's the place where I'm going to sacrifice him.
SPEAKER_00: The emotions that Abraham must have been feeling here.
SPEAKER_00: Hearing these words from his son.
SPEAKER_00: But where is the lamb for the burnt offering?
SPEAKER_00: You hear your son asking that question, knowing you are the sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: You are the one who is going to be killed.
SPEAKER_00: The emotions must have been so high for Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: In the midst of all these questions, how?
SPEAKER_00: How can he continue on?
SPEAKER_00: How can he take his son and say, right, let's go?
SPEAKER_00: And I think we need to look at verse 5.
SPEAKER_00: 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.
SPEAKER_00: As he sets out on these final moments towards the place the Lord has shown, he expresses faith.
SPEAKER_00: Faith in who God is and who God has shown himself to be.
SPEAKER_00: I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.
SPEAKER_00: There is confidence in Abraham that his son, whom he loves, will return, that he will be rescued from what they are facing.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham did not know how, but he knew who?
SPEAKER_00: God himself, that he would remain faithful to his promises and character.
SPEAKER_00: One way or another.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11 gives us more insight into this and shows the faith of Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: Hebrews 11 17 says, By faith when Abraham was tested, he offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.
SPEAKER_00: He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham wasn't blindly following.
SPEAKER_00: He was not placing his faith on a God he did not know.
SPEAKER_00: He had faith that God would be faithful to his promises towards his son Isaac.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't make it easier, it didn't make it just a simple thing for him, but it did mean in the midst of this he was able to have eyes of faith, eyes that saw beyond what was before him, to the God who was calling.
SPEAKER_00: As he hears the words of his son just asking, Where is the Lamb?
SPEAKER_00: He replies in verse 8, God will provide for himself the Lamb for the burnt offering, my son.
SPEAKER_00: When we hear these words, we need to be challenged by them.
SPEAKER_00: Do you truly trust and rest in the provision of God in every season, in every moment of your life?
SPEAKER_00: Do you believe that even in the furnace of suffering itself, He will provide all you need?
SPEAKER_00: When everything is stripped away, are you left consumed by despair?
SPEAKER_00: Or can you stand?
SPEAKER_00: Can you stand in the assurance of the God you serve?
SPEAKER_00: The God who provides, who has always provided.
SPEAKER_00: Not how you might want, or in the way that you believe to be best, but in the very way you require it.
SPEAKER_00: Because Abraham knew this was true.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham had confidence in this.
SPEAKER_00: He knew that all that was about to happen would only be possible through his confidence and assurance in God, not in the situation, not in himself, not in his own will power to do it, but in God.
SPEAKER_00: This was what enabled Abraham to the point of sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: He binds his son, he lays his son on this altar.
SPEAKER_00: He is ready to take the life of his son.
SPEAKER_00: Yet in that moment, there is a display of God's faithfulness and Abraham's continued faith.
SPEAKER_00: God answers.
SPEAKER_00: The God of Abraham answers.
SPEAKER_00: Verse 11 The angel of the Lord called from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.
SPEAKER_00: He said, Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him.
SPEAKER_00: For now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.
SPEAKER_00: How sweet those words must have sounded.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham, Abraham, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him.
SPEAKER_00: Utter relief, remember the weight that he must have been feeling and the release here.
SPEAKER_00: The relief of knowing that he does not need to touch him, he does not need to do anything toward his son, the son that he loves.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing and understanding that God, the God who is the God, provides, the God who does provide, has provided.
SPEAKER_00: And he provides again.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by his horns.
SPEAKER_00: Not thorns, horns.
SPEAKER_00: And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
SPEAKER_00: Abraham once again lifts up his eyes and looked.
SPEAKER_00: Unlike verse 4, where he lifts up his eyes and he sees the place which would bring death to his son.
SPEAKER_00: Here he sees the ram which offers life to his son.
SPEAKER_00: The ram's lifeblood is drained in order for Isaac to be freed from death itself.
SPEAKER_00: Because this is who God is.
SPEAKER_00: As Abraham declares in verse 14, the Lord will provide.
SPEAKER_00: As we gaze upon this, we can't but realize the echo toward the cross of Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_00: As God the Father does not withhold his only son from death, the death we deserve.
SPEAKER_00: Like the Ram.
SPEAKER_00: The Father sends his son, the Son obeys the Father by going to the cross by dying.
SPEAKER_00: That is how God has provided ultimately.
SPEAKER_00: Because our ultimate need has been met.
SPEAKER_00: The provision is that which we needed most, our sin itself, our judgment itself, our punishment itself is placed on the spotless lamb, the one who was without sin, as the Father gives his only Son as the perfect sacrifice.
SPEAKER_00: As John the Baptist sees Jesus' Nazareth and declares, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
SPEAKER_00: The one promise to Abraham in verse 18, in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.
SPEAKER_00: It can be easy to sit here wherever here is and think, what was God doing?
SPEAKER_00: How could Abraham go through this?
SPEAKER_00: Yet faith is not being comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Faith rather is being displayed in the trials of life, not just in the joys, but in the sorrows as well.
SPEAKER_00: As we do not just profess faith, but rather we actually display and live out our faith in these moments.
SPEAKER_00: Because we look to God, not to ourselves, not to the circumstances before us.
SPEAKER_00: The one who has a bigger plan in the midst of Abraham's life, a plan that will be used through his obedience to bring about the greatest provision the world has ever known or had.
SPEAKER_00: The need in which we all to varying degrees feel and experience on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_00: Sin itself, sin that declares death over us, sin that declares we rightly should die because of our rejection of God, the Creator God.
SPEAKER_00: But confidence is in the same God, the God of Abraham, the father of the faith, looking to Jesus, the one whom has dealt the final blow on our sin and death itself.
SPEAKER_00: What else is there for us?
SPEAKER_00: This is a season of light for us, whether it's years or months, wherever it's going to whatever we're going through right now.
SPEAKER_00: Understanding God remains the same is so vital for us.
SPEAKER_00: Understanding that God is the God who provides brings confidence to us.
SPEAKER_00: Your greatest need, brother and sister, in Christ, has been met.
SPEAKER_00: It has been met, it has been dealt with.
SPEAKER_00: That Jesus Christ Himself dying on the cross, dealing with the depth of your brokenness, of my brokenness, giving you eternal life, life that will not fail, will not fade, will not diminish.
SPEAKER_00: And knowing that while we wait for that completion, we walk by faith.
SPEAKER_00: Because the fact remains that though we have been freed from sin and death, suffering and pain will come.
SPEAKER_00: We will continue to face it and feel the brokenness of this world.
SPEAKER_00: We will continue to be feeling that as in our lives as Christians.
SPEAKER_00: The Bible does not hide from that reality.
SPEAKER_00: 2 Timothy 3 says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.
SPEAKER_00: There will be trials and tribulations of various kinds, the Bible says.
SPEAKER_00: It is of the utmost importance that we understand that it is through our suffering our faith is purified.
SPEAKER_00: The purpose for us as Christians that Abraham came through this declaring, God declaring of Abraham, I know that you fear God.
SPEAKER_00: This is not meaning being afraid of God, but rather this fear of God is rather a wholehearted devotion to God, the one who is worthy of all praise and honor.
SPEAKER_00: God knew his heart before this.
SPEAKER_00: But rather, this is for Abraham himself, his own faith as he has faith in God.
SPEAKER_00: That his faith is being lived out.
SPEAKER_00: In this moment, it is being exposed and refined.
SPEAKER_00: He himself is experiencing the reality of his faith, his faith in God, in the God who rules and reigns.
SPEAKER_00: The journey of suffering for Abraham increases his joy in the Lord.
SPEAKER_00: And it will do for us if we have the same heart, the same desire, the same faith in not the situation, not in ourselves, but in God, knowing that he will work all things for our good and his glory.
SPEAKER_00: That he has shown that to be true in his provision for us.
SPEAKER_00: Brother, sister, in the midst of your suffering, do not turn away from your God, your savior, the one who says, I have given everything for you.
SPEAKER_00: I have provided.
SPEAKER_00: Do not believe the lies about him, but look to him.
SPEAKER_00: Look to him on the cross, suffering and dying for you.
SPEAKER_00: Look to him on the cross, bearing God's wrath for you.
SPEAKER_00: Look to him on the cross, declaring it is finished.
SPEAKER_00: Knowing your loving Father has shown such grace.
SPEAKER_00: You did not deserve it, you did not earn it.
SPEAKER_00: It is by faith.
SPEAKER_00: He has met your greatest need in Christ Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Why would he not continue to provide?
SPEAKER_00: Why would he not continue to lead you in the way which leads to life?
SPEAKER_00: All that comes towards us, whether good or painful, is gonna be for our good as we look to him, as we rest in him, as we gaze our eyes on the greatest provision we so desperately need it.
SPEAKER_00: So hold fast.
SPEAKER_00: Hold fast to the one that holds you, knowing your faith is never in vain.
SPEAKER_00: Hear these words, let us lay aside every weight of sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
SPEAKER_00: Let me pray.
SPEAKER_00: Loving Father, I thank you for your word.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the truth of it.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the life of your servant Abraham.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for how he reveals things to us about our own situations and our own lives and how your word speaks to us today.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the faith that you have given to us.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you for the Son that you sent to die for us.
SPEAKER_00: I thank you that he defeated death itself, that he provided the greatest provision we have ever needed.
SPEAKER_00: And I pray for each of us, no matter what we're going through, no matter where we are, that we would remember you to be good and faithful, that we would not believe lies about who you are, but we would know that you are loving, that you care so deeply for us and more deeply than we even care for ourselves.
SPEAKER_00: Your love is so amazing, so glorious, and I pray that we would have eyes of faith, and that we would know that you are the God who provides everything we need.
SPEAKER_00: Not always what we think we want, but everything we need.
SPEAKER_00: Give us eyes of faith, encourage us, I pray.
SPEAKER_00: In your name's sake, I pray, for your glory.
SPEAKER_00: Amen.