Hear It Again

Everybody will turn to Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Am I on?

Can you hear me?

That's why y'all were so, you couldn't hear me.

I almost did all that again, but I'm not going to.

I picked up the phone recently, and a friend said,

I, cancer.

His voice broke, as he told me.

I knew that tests had been done.

I knew that he was somewhat anticipating it.

I said, you broke up, tell me again.

And he said, I don't have cancer.

I needed to hear it again.

Wednesday morning at 4 a.m., my daughter, oldest daughter,

left, packed like a mule going down the road.

I took a picture as she left.

I told her I loved her and to be careful.

She got to probably about Pickens County Airport,

and we realized she had left something that she needed,

that she had bought for the first days of school,

and she needed it.

And so we called her.

She turned around.

At 4.10, I met her in the road, in front of the house,

put her package in the car, and said,

I love you.

Be careful.

I wanted her to hear it again.

Sometimes you need to hear things again.

Sometimes they need to be repeated.

And Abraham, who we've been studying,

offered up his son Isaac on the altar

as God instructed him.

And an angel comes to Abraham after he does that

and speaks words that he has already heard.

But sometimes we need to hear it again.

Let's hear it again this morning.

Genesis chapter 22, beginning in verse 15,

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

it says this,

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,

and 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 gate of his enemy.

And in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth

be blessed because you have obeyed my voice.

So Abraham returned to his young men

and they arose and went together to Beersheba.

And Abraham lived at Beersheba.

Let's pray together.

Heavenly Father, I am thankful for the word that you give us

and the words that sometimes you give us a second time.

Those things that we often sometimes,

not only a second time,

but maybe more,

need to hear again.

God, I pray today

that in the things that we face in our lives,

help us, oh God,

to hear what we need to hear

again today.

In Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

I really believe verse 15 through 19

is a reboot for Abraham.

He desired a son to carry on the lineage

that God had promised him.

Having that son and watching him grow

and then God asking him to sacrifice his son.

Willing to trust the Lord,

he followed the command,

trusting that somehow God would intervene.

Somehow, if God took his son,

he'd bring him back.

He told others that both of them would be back.

Right there at the foot of the hill,

when they followed him most of the way,

he told them to wait

and he and the boy would be back.

He had confidence that God was going to do something

to bring them both back safely.

God provided the ram that they noticed

as the knife was raised over Isaac.

That is slightly intense, folks.

Where do we go from here?

Well, you remember what you already know.

You hear what you've heard again.

So I want to be clear this morning.

I may not tell you anything new today,

but there are three truths

that I want you to hear again.

I think they apply to anything

and everything in your life

that you're concerned about.

Three truths.

First one is this.

God gives us his word.

God gives us his word.

The angel came a second time.

The first time the message

was when the covenant of God was formed

with Abraham.

It's found in Genesis chapter 15

Genesis 15 · chapter mention

and before Abraham even had Isaac,

he promised him that he would.

With an uncertainty of how it could be done

when his wife was past

the age of bearing children,

Abraham made other arrangements

with Hagar, the lead maidservant,

against the wishes of God.

God promises Isaac again

and then Isaac is born.

Miraculously.

We get to this event in Genesis chapter 22

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

on Mount Moriah

and God provides a ram

so that there's no need for Isaac to die there.

In the aftermath,

God reiterates, underlines

what he said to start with

because God keeps his promises.

Whether it's his promises

or whether it's the promise,

he keeps it.

And when I say the promise,

I mean

that once you are saved by the grace of God,

your salvation is secure.

That's the promise of God.

The promise of God is

that if you'll surrender your life

to the Lord Jesus Christ,

if you'll admit that you're a sinner

and ask him to come into your life

and to save you,

that he will do it.

It's a promise of God.

Once he does that,

you can rest in that.

That never changes.

You'll change.

God doesn't change.

But the salvation that you receive from him

will never change.

It is secure.

Not only does it secure your eternity,

but it upticks your life here

because you are empowered now

by the Holy Spirit of God

to rise above the temptation

that you face in this life.

That is the promise of salvation.

The promise of God.

But beyond that promise,

there are the promises of God.

And I want you to understand

that God's other promises

are just as secure as your salvation.

Notice the angel says,

because you have done this.

Remember, Abraham has went up the mountain with Isaac,

offered his son to the Lord.

The son did not require him.

Excuse me, the Lord did not require his son.

And now the angel says,

because you have done this.

Abraham was blessed because he was obedient.

But I want you to be clear about something.

God knew Abraham would obey him.

God knew Abraham would obey him

before he ever established the first covenant with him.

God knew Abraham would obey him

before he was even created,

before Abraham was even born.

The promise of God came

before he knew beforehand

what he was going to show Abraham

and how Abraham would respond.

He has promised Abraham

that his descendants would be numerous.

Here the angel takes it a step further.

And in that promise of the legacy of Abraham,

he's described for the first time here

in this angelic message,

that that legacy is to be as numerous

as the stars in heaven,

which are too numerous to count.

Now that's hard for us to grasp in Pickens County

because we're blessed with trees

and hills and mountains.

Two weeks ago, I spent some nights in South Dakota

on the backside of nowhere in Big Sky Country.

And when we went out at night,

we saw the stars.

Too numerous to count.

Never before until this angelic message

was his legacy described as numerous

as the sands on the seashore.

If you were to take a cup of sand

and this afternoon,

take that cup of sand

and go to your dining room table

and pour that cup of sand out

and start counting out the grains of sand

as if you were counting coins,

well, one, you are a very boring person.

But number two,

you won't get it done today.

I believe they're probably beyond

what you're at least willing to calculate.

That's the example that he gives.

God's promises are that his blessings

will be too numerous to count.

I want you to notice something else too.

In verse 17, I love this passage.

It says this,

And your offspring shall possess

the gates of his enemies.

Now understand the gate of the city.

We're talking about walled cities.

Okay?

The gate was the main part of the city.

If you came into that city,

if you went out of that city,

you had to go through the gate of the city.

It was the meeting spot.

It was the social spot.

If you want to know what was happening,

that's where you went to see what was happening.

It was literally the gateway into the city.

Now, you can try to tear down the wall.

If you're trying to take over that city,

you can try to build a ramp to go over the wall.

They did such as that.

You can ladder up or try to break through

or tunnel under,

but the real place to get through was the gate.

And even if you did go over or under the wall,

the first thing that an army would do

if it went over the wall or under the wall

was to get to the gate and open it up

so the rest of the army could come in.

You defeat the enemy by possessing the gate.

And God says here,

Your offspring,

because of your obedience,

shall subdue the enemy.

You know what that means to us, Christian?

Well, let me remind you of what Jesus said

at Caesarea Philippi.

Matthew chapter 16, beginning in verse 15,

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

he said this,

He said to them,

But who do you say that I am?

And Simon Peter replied,

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

And Jesus answered him,

Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah.

That just means his daddy's name was Jonah.

Simon Bar-Jonah,

for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you,

but my Father who is in heaven.

And I tell you,

you are Peter,

and on this rock I'll build my church,

and the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

That word for Peter there means rock,

like a small stone.

But the reality is,

when he says,

and on this rock,

that's a different word,

more like a boulder.

I had a New Testament professor

that described this passage as meaning this.

He said,

I wasn't there,

but if I was there,

I believe I would have seen this.

And he said,

Peter,

and you are now rock.

His name was Simon

before he changed him to small stone.

You are rock.

And on this rock,

I'll build my church.

And the gates of hell

shall not prevail against it.

I want to be clear.

No matter what denomination you come from,

the church is not built on Peter.

It's built on Christ.

He is the foundation,

the cornerstone,

and the capstone.

That's where the strength comes from.

But get this point.

The gates of hell

shall not prevail.

In other words,

if you go with God,

we will possess the gate.

If we go with God,

we will subdue the enemy.

If we go with God,

we will win the battle,

triumph over the enemy in the war.

With God, friend,

we win.

And the angel had to say that

a second time to Abraham.

He needed to hear it again

or he wouldn't have repeated it.

Maybe you need to hear it again.

I know I do from time to time.

I need to be reminded

that with God, we win.

That is the blessings of believing.

That is the blessings of obedience.

You will gain things from the Lord

that you do not deserve

because God gives us

his word.

Second truth is this.

You've heard this before.

You need to hear it again.

God challenges us

to believe.

Abraham had to believe

God before Isaac was born.

Abraham had to believe

God when God asked for Isaac.

Abraham had to believe

God in the midst of the journey

when he kept looking at that place,

dreading the top of that mountain

where he was going,

looking up to that place.

He had to trust God in that.

Abraham had to believe God

when he told his servants,

wait here,

we'll be back.

We'll be back,

both of us.

Abraham had to believe God

as he bound his son.

Abraham had to believe God

as he lifted that knife.

Abraham had to believe.

It was a challenge of belief.

And he's not the only one.

Think about David.

When David walked in

to the valley of Elah

and saw that blasphemous

giant of a man, Goliath,

breathing out his

sacrilegious threats,

David had to believe in God.

I mean, they tried to fit him

with Saul's armor.

And another passage said

Saul was a head taller

than every other man.

It didn't fit on David.

He couldn't believe in the armor.

He had to believe in God.

When Saul told him,

you're just a boy,

he had to believe in God.

When David went

and picked up five smooth stones,

praying for accuracy,

he had to believe in God.

And he referred back

to what God had done

for him in the past.

He said,

when I was keeping sheep

and a bear came along,

God enabled me

to protect the sheep.

When the lion came along,

God enabled me

to protect the sheep.

David had to believe

that God had prepared him

for this.

He saw all that shepherding

as a training ground

for this valley,

for this time.

David had to believe

that when he went

with boldness

against those that defy

the living God,

that God would come through.

David had to believe.

And when he went

into that valley

and when he took his shot

and when he struck down

the enemy,

David had to believe.

But he's not the only one.

When Peter was in that boat

in the midst of the storm,

he had to believe.

When he saw Jesus

walking on the water,

he had to believe.

When Jesus told him

to walk out on the water,

he had to believe.

And as long as his eyes

stayed on Jesus,

he stayed up.

And when he looked

at the storm,

he began to sink.

I promise you folks,

if you watch the storms

in life,

it'll weaken your faith

every time.

But you keep your eyes

upon the Lord

and he will lead you

to believe.

Because God challenges us

to believe.

He did it in Abraham's life.

He did it in David's life.

He did it in Peter's life.

Oh, I could go on.

We can talk about Joseph.

We can talk about Moses.

Y'all don't want lunch today,

do you?

We can talk about Joshua.

We can talk about Samson.

We can talk about Nehemiah.

We can talk about Esther.

We can talk about Job.

Let's get over to the prophets.

Let's turn over to the apostles.

All the way through,

you will find that

they had to believe.

God challenges us

to believe,

not just for biblical folks,

for folks today.

God challenges us

to believe.

So I want to ask you this morning,

have you ever believed

on the Lord?

1 John 1, 9 says,

if we confess our sins,

he's faithful and just

to forgive us of our sins

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

Leave that up a minute.

I love this passage.

And what I love about it is,

if God was,

if God was willing to do it

but couldn't do it,

we'd be in a mess.

And if God could do it

but wasn't willing to do it,

oh man,

we'd be in a mess.

But thank God,

he's willing to do it

and he can do it

and not only does he forgive us

of our sins,

but listen,

if you start naming your sins today,

if we all do that,

this place is going to get ugly.

Okay?

If we start confessing our sins

but I'll tell you,

we can make a list

as long as we possibly

can think of

and we'll still not name them all.

We'll miss some out.

And what I am thankful about

is when we bring

our known sin to God,

he is willing and able

to forgive us of our sins

and look at what it says,

and to cleanse us

from all unrighteousness.

He cleans the slate

when we believe.

Have you ever believed

on the Lord?

If not,

that's your challenge today

because he challenges us

to believe.

Third thing is this.

God keeps his promise.

God populated a nation

through Abraham

just like he promised.

He used Abraham

because of his obedience.

Think about another man

that obeyed God.

Noah obeyed God.

He built a boat

in the desert

when it hadn't even rained.

Why did he do it?

Because God told him to do it.

And all the storms

and the floods,

when Noah reached dry land,

the first thing he did

was build an altar

to the Lord

in Genesis chapter 9.

Genesis 9 · chapter mention

It was after the sacrifice

that God promised

he would never again

destroy the earth

by flood

and then he put his bow

in the sky.

All that fight over the rainbow

if they only knew.

Let me tell you

what literally

the Hebrew mind

would see

when they look at that passage.

is that when the wrath

of God

is coming upon

the people

of the land

that it is

as if God

has a bow and arrow

and he is using

that primitive weapon

to display his wrath

toward folks.

That's what the flood

was doing.

It was God

using his wrath

toward the earth

and when he made

that covenant

with Noah

after he went

to that altar,

God,

thank God,

hung up his bow.

in the sky

he was done.

And every time

you see a rainbow

you can be reminded

thank God

the wrath of God

has been spared

from my life

because God's

hung up his bow.

I didn't make that up.

The Hebrew language

tells us that.

Hagar

was used

by Abraham

and Sarah

to have the baby

that they thought

they could not have.

It was not

in God's will

and it made

for a messy

hairy situation

but God promised

her

before her child

was born

that he would

father descendants

without number.

Job went

through the worst.

I can't imagine

the losses

he took

the accusations

that people made

the hardship

that he suffered

but after he went

through his trial

the scripture says

he received

a double portion

of all that he had lost.

Why?

Because God is faithful.

He keeps

his promise.

Now I want you

to recognize something.

Abraham

when he was

going up that mountain

with his precious

son Isaac

did not know

this was a test

of God.

He didn't know

that till afterwards.

Job

when he went

through all his suffering

didn't know

it was a test

that he was going

through

until he suffered

the losses

that he did.

I say that

because

we usually

do not recognize

the test

that we face

when we're walking

in the midst

of it.

It's not until

after the fact

when we look back

and see God's hand

lead us through it

that we understand

what was going on.

It's just too real

to us.

It's right there

before us.

The test

of God

are not

pre-scheduled

on some syllabus

that God gives us

when we give

our heart and life

to him

so we can know

when it's going to come

and when the deadline

is.

They come

unexpected.

But God's promises

God promises

that he will not

leave us alone

in the midst

of our difficulty

and God

keeps his promise.

Not only that

but he blesses

those who trust

him

and turn

their way

to his way.

I like the way

Kent Hughes

put it.

He said this

it's all so simple

we grow

in faith

as we believe

the bare word

of God.

The process

is this

God comes

to us

with his word

and we're challenged

to believe.

When we believe

his word

he tests us

by stretching

our faith

so that it can

grow to greater

dimensions than before.

There are always

valleys next

to the hilltops

of faith.

There are ups

and downs

but God grows

our faith

incrementally

so that we are

enabled

to give our

Isaacs

to God.

so

so

so what

changes

does God

want you

to make

in his life?

What changes

does God

want you

to make

in your life?

Resting

upon the

promises

of God

being reminded

of those things

that most of you

when you walked

in this place

already knew

how does that

apply to your

life today?

What does

his word

and the conviction

of his spirit

speak to you

about in regards

to a change

that needs to come

in your life?

You may be in that

spot where you say

well pastor

listen I'm not

hearing anything

from God.

I'm just not

hearing it.

and my first

question would be

it's not

accusative

it's a question

are you

listening?

Are you

attentive?

Are you

taking personal

time in his

word?

Because my

friend the

word of God

is God

breathes.

It is a

living

active

declaration

of what

he'll work

and move

not only in

the people's

lives that

are listed

in this

book

but what

he'll do

in our

lives as

well.

And when

you ask

the Lord

Jesus

God as I

read this

will you

show me

how it

applies to

my life?

God will

you interact

with what

I'm dealing

with in my

life today

as I read

this passage

God?

Will you

give me

direction

I ask?

I promise

you

the Holy

Spirit will

work and

move in

your life

as you

trust him

in his

word.

The other

question is

this have

you answered

what he's

already told

you to

do?

God

convicted

you in

an area

of your

life that

you're just

letting lay

and ignoring?

Have you

responded to

what he's

already told

you to do?

I want

you to hear

it again.

God gives

you his

word.

God will

always challenge

us to

believe and

God will

always keep

his promises.

You can rest

in it.

As my friend

says often

that's what the

book says and

the book never

lies.

every head

bowed and

every eye

closed.

I want to

ask you this

morning has

there ever

been a time

in your

life when

you've asked

the Lord

Jesus to

come into

your life

and save

you?

Have you

ever

acknowledged

the fact

that you're

a sinner

and need

the Lord

Jesus and

ask him to

save you?

If that's

never happened

to you I

want you to

know in a few

minutes we're

going to stand

we're going to

give the

invitation.

You can

come for

various reasons

but the

most important

one of any

of that is

that if you

don't know

the Lord

Jesus you

come I'd

love to

guide you

in that

process of

what it

means to

give your

heart and

life to

the Lord.

If you've

done that

privately but

you've never

done that

publicly you

need to

acknowledge him

through baptism.

It's the

first step of

obedience.

Christ did

it as an

example for

us to

follow and

it's the way

to proclaim

that faith.

So maybe

you're coming

today and

say listen I

know I've

given my

heart and

life to the

Lord but I've

never made

that publicly

acknowledged and

I need to do

that today.

Maybe God's

drawing you

into this

fellowship.

You know that

this is where

God would have

you to serve.

Sometimes we

just put those

things off.

Listen if you're

putting that off

for no reason

except for

stubbornness don't

do that anymore.

Just obey God

and come.

I don't ever want

you to do anything

that God's not

leading you to do.

Never want you to

sit on anything

God is telling you

to do.

Maybe you're

here this

morning and the

reality is there's

just stuff in your

life that you need

to believe God

for and you need

to lay those

things at the

altar and give

them over to God.

Not pick them up

and take them back

to your seat with

you.

Leave them here

at his feet

trusting him with

it.

I don't know how

God's speaking to

you but I promise

you that if you

obey him he'll keep

his promises.

You can rest in it.

Heavenly Father I love

you and I thank you

dear God for your

love for us and I

ask today that you'll

move and you'll work

in our midst.

Help us to respond

in obedience as you

speak to our hearts

and lives.

Oh God I pray in

Jesus precious name.

Amen.