The God of Sacrifice, Part 5-Doug Crum

Sometime later, God tested Abraham.

He said to him, Abraham, here I am, he replied.

Then God said, Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah.

Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains.

I will tell you about.

Early the next morning, Abraham got up and saddled his donkey.

He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac.

When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about.

On the third day, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance.

Abraham said to his servant, Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.

We will worship, and then we will come back to you.

Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife.

As the two of them went on together, Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, Father, yes, my son, the fire and wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?

Abraham said, God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering.

And the two of them went on together.

When they reached the place God had told them about, Abraham built an altar and there arranged the wood on it.

He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son.

But we are now entering in our fifth lesson in a series on Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

We began one month ago examining the whole picture of Abraham in 22 and God, and we asked the question, a really important question, one we shouldn't just skip over because we know the end, but to sit in that moment and ask the question: what kind of God would ask one of his followers to sacrifice his only son?

And that morning I asked you not to quickly dismiss that question or try to smooth it over, but instead spend that whole week living in the tension of knowing that God sometimes asks his people to do really hard things.

Then the next week, when we gathered, we started talking about the idea of worship and what really is worship, because we had this unusual phrase that Abraham uses.

As he's on the most difficult day of his life, about to make the hardest decision he could ever make, he proclaims that what he is about to do is worship.

Because Abraham believes, as do we, that worship is not just about singing the songs that we like and feeling good and coming together and being happy.

But sometimes worship can be really difficult.

And honestly, I think for most of us, some of our best worship doesn't take place in here.

It takes place in a hospital room.

When hearing the news that someone that we love is ill.

That we could be men of faith who will be bold and courageous for our families and that we're willing to fight for them.

And then last week we walked on a treadmill and handed out chocolate and talked about this faith.

Because right before Abraham leaves the servants, he says, Hey, you guys stay here.

We're going to go worship and we will come back.

And what kind of faith did it take for Abraham to believe that?

We looked ahead at Hebrews that he had such faith that he believed that God would raise his son Isaac from the dead.

But when did his faith actually begin?

And so we had Carter up here, he was walking on the treadmill, and he did better than I could possibly have imagined or scripted.

For those of you who remember, I had a six-pack of chocolate bars, and I promised him and the other kids up here that each one of them would get a chocolate bar if they did something I asked them to do.

Well, he got the hard job.

He had to walk on that treadmill.

But he was keeping a close eye on those chocolate bars.

And he can count.

And he can definitely subtract.

And he saw, as the kids down here got really easy tasks, they had to answer some simple question.

If they didn't know it, they could get some help.

But I told him, just walk until I tell you to stop walking.

He wasn't getting anywhere, but he kept walking and he watched all that chocolate go away.

And then he saw two pieces left and one person down there.

And I said, Hey, here, here, I want to give you a piece of chocolate for you, and then give the other to someone special.

And it was at that moment that he stopped walking and he just slid off the back of the treadmill and stood like this.

You see, faith is not always having all the answers or even knowing how God is going to do it, but just taking one step after another.

How did Abraham become a man of such great faith?

It was because he simply trusted even when he was afraid.

And so for each one of us, it is a reminder that we don't have to have all the answers, and we don't have to be perfect to be people of faith.

What God is calling us to do through the story in Genesis 22 is that we just keep walking.

And so now we are finally closing out this series, but you're probably wondering, what about that question that we asked a month ago?

And I think it's a valid question.

What kind of God would be willing to ask someone to sacrifice their son?

It's not an easy question.

And honestly, I think many of us would just as soon rip out Genesis chapter 22 and not have to deal with that story.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

But we mustn't let our ignorance or the awkwardness cause us to sidestep such a pivotal story.

Because the story is something so much bigger.

And so I just want to dive in one last time into the tension and into the confusion and the awkwardness, and let's figure out what in the world was going on.

For starters, it's important for us to note that what was asked of Abraham is something that didn't come out of left field for Abraham's time.

There was a uh a god called Molech, he was the god of the Ammonites.

Uh, and he asked uh his followers to have their children pass through the fire as an offering to him.

That's a really nice way of saying, I want you to burn your kids as a sacrifice to me.

For the Moabites, it was the God of Camash that wanted their people.

He wanted his people to offer human sacrifices.

In fact, it's in 2 Kings chapter 3 that we get an example of what Camash was asking his people to do.

2 Kings 3 · chapter mention

And of course, there's Baal, who is the god of the Canaanites.

You see, that the those who served Baal, they didn't just simply cut themselves like we noticed uh on Mount Carmel.

They were also asked to sacrifice their children, their children and even their infants as sacrifices.

So it just kind of sets the scene.

Maybe it's an expectation that Abraham has.

God has been offering promises to Abraham, and now here's the catch.

Here's when the other shoe falls.

This is when he realizes that he's going to be asked to do something that all the other gods of his time and around that area had been asking.

I want you to give up your son, I want you to give up your child, I want you to sacrifice them for me.

Ultimately, it's that human sacrifice that infuriated God so much.

It was one of the reasons that God wanted the Canaanites destroyed because he wanted to put an end to the generational human sacrifice that was being practiced year after year.

It's why the Levitical law forbade human sacrifice, and it's why we have Genesis 22.

You say, well, that that doesn't really make sense.

Why would God talk about how bad human sacrifice is while asking someone to participate it in themselves?

And this is the beautiful part of Genesis chapter 22, and it's why I've been wanting to get to this sermon for a really long time.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Because Genesis chapter 22, while we read a lot about this guy named Abraham, the story is really not about him at all.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

As a whole, the Bible first and foremost is about describing the nature of God, of who he is and what he does and how he loves.

And in Genesis chapter 22, verse 5, we've looked at this for several weeks, but I want to look at it again.

Genesis 22:5

This gives us a glimpse of God's character.

Abraham said to his servants, stay here with the donkey while who?

It's in red.

I and the boy.

Say that with me.

Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there.

We will worship and we will come back to you.

I love Genesis chapter 22 because God is laying it down right now.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

He says there is going to be a sacrifice, but it doesn't involve you.

It's going to be between the Father and the Son.

And this is why Genesis 22 should forever remain in our Bibles, and it's why we should constantly look back at it and be reminded.

There is sacrifice, there is pain, there is suffering in following Jesus.

But you need to know when it comes down to the ultimate sacrifice, it's the between the Father and the Son.

They are the ones who's going to be doing the heavy lifting.

They're the ones who will be carrying the load.

It's them who will find themselves on that mountain.

What happens in Genesis chapter 22 is between the Father and the Son, God is pointing to what he's going to do.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

So you probably know the rest of the story, but we've been holding out for several weeks, and so let's finally look at the rest of this.

Here we have in verse 10, it says, Abraham reached out his hand and took the knot to slay his son.

But an angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven, Abraham, Abraham, here I am.

Which, by the way, this is important.

The first time God called to Abraham, Abraham responded, Here I am.

And God gave him an incredibly difficult task.

And when God comes knocking, Abraham is not afraid to answer in the same.

And this is what he hears.

Do not lay a hand on the void.

Do not do anything to him.

Now I know that you fear God because you have not withheld your son, your only son.

Abraham looked up and there in the thicket he saw a ram caught by its horns.

He went over and he took the ram and sacrificed it as a burnt offering instead of his son.

So Abraham called that place the Lord will provide.

And to this day it is said, on the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.

This is such an incredible passage, but but it gets even better.

Right?

Because I don't know if you remember, but when God came to Abraham, he said, I want you to sacrifice your son.

He says, I want you to go to this place.

I'm going to show you where it is.

And Abraham is going to have to take this three-day journey.

And when we first started this, I asked the question, why wouldn't he just say, hey, Abraham, I'm going to ask you to do something really, really difficult, but let's at least get it over with.

I mean, it's bad enough that God says, I want you to kill your son, but basically he gives him a 72-hour countdown to think about this.

You're going to have to sacrifice your son, but not yet.

I want you to grab the wood and the knife and the fire, and you're going to spend the last three days with your son before you kill him.

You're going to head that direction.

Can you imagine that?

But here's what's really interesting.

One of the reasons why he had him walk is because he wanted him to go to a special place.

You see, it was on this mountain.

It was in an area that would be later known as the region of Judea.

More specifically, it would be a city called Jerusalem.

And if you want to pinpoint it even more, the place in which Abraham raised his knife to kill his son was no more than a few yards away from where Jesus would be sacrificed by his heart.

Such a beautiful story.

Genesis 22 is not about an evil, manipulative, violent God who would test his people and say, look what I'm going to make you do.

Instead, Genesis 22 says, look at all the other gods and what they're requesting.

They say, sacrifice your son or your daughter, burn them up, kill them, sacrifice, but not me.

I'm the God who will do all the sacrifice.

Once and for all, for all people, on this mountain is where I am going to make my stand.

For my people, I am giving up the most important thing.

Now you may remember another little detail.

If you go back to verse 7 and 8, as they're walking up towards Mount Moriah, you have Abraham there with his son Isaac, and Isaac turns to his dad and he says, Hey, we've got the wood and we've got the fire.

Where is the sacrifice?

And you remember what Abraham said?

He said, The Lord will provide the lamb.

And then we fast forward.

Abraham's got to kill his son, angel beans, don't kill his son.

And then they look over and caught in the thicket is a ram.

Wait, a a ram?

He says that God is gonna provide a lamb, but then there's a ram that's caught.

Did Abraham make a mistake?

What's the difference between a lamb and a ram?

Somebody help me out here.

Does anybody know?

Do what?

One's grown up.

So the very simple part of it, a lamb is less than a year old.

It's the same species.

Uh, and and they're typically known, uh seen as innocent and playful, uh, and and cute and cuddly, and then they reach that one year mark, and then they turn into a ram.

For those of you who are confused by that, it's only because you haven't had teenagers.

If you had teenagers, you know that's the difference between your child and then when they turn 13 and then they grow horns and they look at you like you're crazy, right?

Um, a lamb is cute and playful, uh, a ram is nasty and gross, uh, they're oftentimes territorial, and they can even be a little aggressive.

Again, teenage boy.

This is exactly what this is, right?

But that's the difference between a lamb and a ram.

So clearly, Abraham messed it up.

He said the Lord will provide a lamb, but God didn't give him a lamb, he gave him a ram.

Or, you you know where we're going.

What if when Abraham was talking about what God would provide, somehow he had A glimpse of a bigger picture.

Because Abraham knew that this was not his story.

This was God's story.

And this wasn't his mountain.

It's God's mountain.

And it wasn't going to be his son that was sacrificed.

It was going to be God's.

And God would provide that lamb.

I was visiting with Aaron Bowen earlier in the week.

He stopped by and we were chatting and we got to talking about Genesis 22.

And he says, it's really interesting.

He says, the moment that God chose to save Abraham's son is when he had to sacrifice his son.

Jesus' faith was sealed when God said, I will not let my people sacrifice their children.

This is going to be something that I do.

In Hebrews chapter 11, we read all these stories of faith, these faithful people.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

By faith, Abraham left the place where he was going.

By faith, he trusted and believed in God.

In his promises, by faith, he offered his son.

There's 40 verses in Hebrews 11 that by faith this person did this, and by faith, and by faith, and by faith.

But I really wish we could have just one more verse to add in.

Verse 41 of Hebrews 11 might say something like this: By faith, God sacrificed his son.

Because by doing what he did, God was faithful.

God was faithful to his plan and to his promise and to all his people.

God is still faithful.

We are several thousand years away from Golgotha and several thousand more away from Mount Moriah.

But you need to know that God is still faithful.

Jesus lived a perfect life that we couldn't.

And God offered his son because we wouldn't.

And Jesus died for our sins so we don't have to.

And Jesus rose from the dead so that we can too.

And that's why we're here to worship.

Amen.

Of nothing else.

Not because you're good, not because you're great.

Not because you're bored on Sunday and you have nothing else to do.

Not because you just want to come hang out with people or see the coolest guy that you know stand up here and talk to you.

The coolest.

No, that's we are here because God is good and he's faithful and we want to worship him.

Who else could rescue me from my family?

Who else would offer his only son?

Who else invites me to call him Father?

Only a holy God.

And that's why we're here to worship.

And my prayer is that you will take worship with you this week, and that wherever we go, we can point to a God who shows love and mercy and goodness.

And a God who has prepared a place for us.

And who is calling us to bring that place here down on earth until he comes.

And so this morning, I want to ask you to join us as we worship in song.

Let us continue to worship a God who is worthy of our praise.

And I want to ask you to do that this morning as we stand and sing.