Genesis 22 | "A Father's Faith"

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Would you open your Bibles with me to Genesis chapter 22?

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

As we begin our time this morning, as Lowell prayed, my name is Webb, short for Webster.

I serve here during the week full-time on the staff as our ministry associate, and that means I do what Pastor Jason tells me to do.

Sometimes he tells me to study my Bible even more deeply.

And sometimes the fruit of that study he sends to the pulpit.

This text, he's increasingly given me less and less time to prepare, to toughen me up, I think, for a future where I have to do this more often, where I get to do this more often.

So it's my great privilege to do this this morning.

But also, man, I got to sing out there.

Wow.

I'm actually jealous of you guys.

We put headphones in up here so we can hear each other really clearly, and we can hear you, but it's nothing like singing among you.

Thank you for singing.

I learned Justin Swanson can sing really well.

In case you didn't know that, I learned it today.

That's really fun.

So thank you all for singing.

Thank you for being here this morning.

Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

Please follow along with me as I read.

After these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

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

Offer him there as a burnt offering, on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

And 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.

And on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey.

I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.

And he took in his hand the fire and the knife.

And so they went, both of them together.

And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father.

And he said, Here I am, my son.

He said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

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

So they went, both of them together.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham.

And he said, Here I am.

He said, Do not lay your 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.

And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in a thicket by its horns.

And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

And so Abraham called the name of that place, the Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.

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 enemies.

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.

Moses begins this teaching quite plainly.

He says, After these things, God tested Abraham.

Moses wants you and me and us to know right away this is a story about a test.

This is a story about a test.

Moses therefore also wants his people, the Israelites, wandering around in the desert, to know the story they're about to hear, this true story that really happened, is a story about a test.

Why?

I think the answer comes pretty quickly when we think about the history of Israel.

Exodus chapter 20, starting in verse 13.

Exodus 20 · chapter mention

You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.

Does this part sound familiar?

Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen.

But do not let God speak to us lest we die.

Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.

One more, Deuteronomy chapter 8, verse 2.

Deuteronomy 8:2

And you shall remember, speaking to the same Israelites, Moses is, you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness.

So before the wilderness, at the end of the wilderness, right?

That he led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

And so from that this becomes very plain.

Moses is sharing this true story with the intention that his people would learn about what testing is.

It's an illustration of what real testing looks like.

So that's our goal this morning is to learn as much as we can, as fast as we can, about testing.

And I mean that fast part.

We had coffee for you in your fellowship groups.

Hang with me.

There's a lot to go through, and we're gonna go quick.

So notice right away.

This is by no means the first test God puts to Abraham.

Flip back.

Genesis chapter 12.

Genesis 12 · chapter mention

Keep a finger in chapter 12 and a finger in chapter 22.

We're gonna be doing a lot of this.

Chapter 12.

Now the Lord said to Abram, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you.

Dot, dot, dot, verse 4.

So Abram went.

God issued a command.

God put before Abram a test.

Abram obeyed and he passed the test.

God sends him to the promised land.

He gets there, verse 7.

Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land.

And so he built there an altar to the Lord who had appeared to him.

From there he moved to the hill country on the east of Bethel and pitched his tent with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.

And there he built an altar to the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord.

He's in the promised land.

God has said, I will give this land to your offspring.

What's left for Abram to do?

Love his wife, live long in the land, be fruitful and multiply.

That would be obedient.

Verse 10.

Now there was a famine in the land, so Abram went down to Egypt to sojourn there.

For the famine was severe in the land.

Imagine how that sounded to somebody who was on their 38th year of manna.

Right?

But famines don't come from anywhere, just like the manna didn't come from nowhere.

Famines come with drought or blight or war.

All of those things are sent by God.

So God sends Abram to the promised land.

Abram gets there, God promises to give the dirt he's standing on to his offspring.

And then God takes away the food.

Abram leaves the land of promise.

And bad stuff ensues.

Right?

But God saves him, God protects him.

Time would fail me to show you again and again and again in these ten chapters just how much God tests Abraham.

But it is constant, it's never ceasing.

The testing of the Lord is always happening.

And the same is true for you and I.

Every minute when we wake up, before we even open our eyes, God has placed before us the opportunity to love Him, the opportunity to worship Him, the opportunity to seek Him.

And I don't know about you guys, but some of my most grievous sins happen between me and my alarm clock.

I don't like that thing.

Right?

Every moment of every day is an opportunity to obey your king.

The testing of the Lord is constant.

Surely some tests are more difficult, and in biblical times some tests are more obvious.

But for you and I and for Abraham, every day is a test.

That's why Paul writes in Ephesians 5, look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise, but as wise, making the best use of the time.

For the days are evil.

In Romans 12, 1.

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices all the time, with your life, with your body.

Dot, dot, dot.

Which is your spiritual worship.

All of life, all the time, ought to be worshiped.

That's the command of God.

And therefore, all of life is a test.

To see whether or not you will fear the Lord.

To see whether or not you love the Lord.

God's inviting you to love him.

But that brings me to the next point.

It's important here.

We should take a second to realize what we mean when we say test.

James chapter 1, verse 12.

James 1:12

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am being tempted by God.

For God cannot be tempted with evil.

And he himself tempts no one.

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.

Then desire, when it has conceived, gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown, brings forth death.

And so you see right here, both words are going on, right?

Trial and testing and temptation.

And James is making a distinction.

They're not the same thing.

God does issue tests.

God does put his children under trial constantly to see you grow.

But God does not tempt them with evil.

God does never, he never tempts you with evil.

He doesn't tempt Abram here with evil.

God says to Job, Will you worship me when you're grieved in the core of your heart?

And Job's wife says, Curse God and die.

You see, God speaks to us positively.

And we take those opportunities for obedience and turn them into temptations for disobedience.

God says yes, we say no.

It's on us.

Because our hearts are crooked.

In other words, tests are opportunities from the Lord for obedience.

But our wicked desires turn them into temptations towards disobedience.

The testing of the Lord, that is, these opportunities for active obedience is never ceasing.

It's constant.

There's not a single moment of your day where you couldn't be asking yourself, how can I obey the Lord right now?

Too often we think being a Christian means just avoiding the bad stuff.

It's not enough for your God.

It's enough for a Pharisee.

It's not enough.

He's inviting you to something greater.

And your righteousness must exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees, right?

Turn back to Genesis 12.

Again, but keep your finger in chapter 22.

Now the Lord said to Abram, verse 1, Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house, the land that I will show you.

Chapter 22, verse 1.

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

Verse 2, God said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, of which I shall tell you.

Do you hear the similarity?

Do you hear the parallel?

Your country, your kindred, your father's house, your son, your only son.

Isaac is his name, whom you love.

There's one more.

Go to the land that I will show you in chapter twelve.

Go to Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering.

The first one was difficult.

This test in chapter 22 is unthinkable.

The first test contained one command.

Go.

This test contains two.

Both go and offer him there.

And so we see that the testing of the Lord is consecutive.

It gets harder and harder and harder.

Oh, to have the time to show you this in these ten chapters through Abraham's life.

But trust me, God has tested him and refined him.

And through that testing, God has established him both in the land of promise and with the children of promise.

Through treaties and skirmishes, he's made clear the land will be Abraham.

And by repeatedly and emphatically saying, It will be Isaac, it will be Isaac, it will be Isaac.

God has established Abraham in the promise of offspring through consecutive and ever-increasing trial.

And in the 10 chapters between chapter 12 and 22, God tells Abraham to wait and to wait and to wait, but then God sends a famine.

And then God sends a war through the promised land.

And then God destroys Sodom and Gomorrah before Abraham's very eyes.

Abraham believes God.

It has been reckoned to him as righteousness, but not without trial.

Abraham fails some tests.

Stuff with Pharaoh was stupid.

And he passes others.

Right?

But notice how much harder it was for Abraham to send Ishmael away in chapter 21 than it would have been to wait in the promised land.

And notice how unthinkably difficult it is to offer his son, his only son, whom he loves.

The testing of the Lord is consecutive.

It gets harder and harder as you grow stronger.

Charles Spurgeon says, speaking on this very passage and this very idea, expect then, beloved, your trials to multiply as you proceed towards heaven.

Do not think that as you grow in grace, the path will become smoother beneath your feet and the heavens serener above your heads.

He's talking to you.

On the contrary, reckon that as God gives you greater skill as a soldier, he will send you upon more arduous enterprises.

And as he more fully fits your bark to brave the tempest and the storm, so will he send you out upon more boisterous seas and upon longer voyages that you may honor him and still further increase in holy confidence.

The discipline of the Lord, the testing of the Lord is consecutive.

It gets harder and harder and harder.

Then in chapter 21, Ishmael has been sent away and provided for in what might be the saddest moment in Abram's life.

But then Abraham settles up with Abimelech over that well.

He finds peace.

He has Isaac, he has Sarah, he has a home.

It's in the promised land.

Everything's good.

The next thing to do is find the boy a wife and see him raise a family and play with grandkids.

And they're gonna possess the promised land.

Abraham has made it.

And he knows it.

Look at chapter 21, verse 33.

It's just right before our text for the morning, Abraham planted a tamarisk tree in Beersheba and called there on the name of the Lord, the everlasting God.

And he does that because Abraham sees that all the promises that God has made are coming true.

Wombs were opened, armies were defeated.

Even Abraham's foolishness couldn't thwart God's plans.

God accounted for all of it in his sovereign plan.

And he had given Abraham the child of promise and the land of promise.

This God is mighty and everlasting.

This God is the God above all gods, the everlasting one of heaven.

So testifies Abraham.

And after these things, God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham.

And he said, Here I am.

And God said, Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.

Only one more thing to notice, and I'll make it quick.

Notice how God is very, very specific.

Your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love.

Isaac, the boy who fills Sarah's tent with laughter.

Isaac, your son.

This is not some trivial thing.

God's not just being eloquent for kicks.

He's testifying for all eternity that Abraham loved his son.

He's saying it with divine authority.

And he's telling Abraham, I know exactly what I'm asking of you.

I know.

God's testing, we've already kind of seen it in those first few points, but God's testing is complete.

It's concerned with the whole of Abraham's heart.

His heart, his mind, his soul, and his strength.

It's all-encompassing.

The very design of God's test for Abraham requires extensive preparation and an extended journey.

God wants Abraham to think on it.

God wants Abraham to take it to heart.

This is not some spur of the moment, pinch your nose and take your medicine kind of obedience that God is calling for.

No, Abraham must do it.

And this test will consume him.

In order to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham will first have to sacrifice himself, his very will.

Isaac must be sacrificed in Abraham's heart before he will ever be sacrificed with Abraham's hands.

God's tests, therefore, drive to the deepest parts of who we are, to the recesses of our hearts, our most foundational convictions.

Not just our hearts, right?

But Abraham's mind is also put to the test.

God says, in effect, Abraham, do you really believe that I am the everlasting God?

Do you really believe that I am the judge of all the earth who will do what is right?

Abraham said that.

Those are Abraham's words.

When God was going to destroy Sodom, Abraham challenged him on the basis of his character.

Abraham testified that God would not sweep away the righteous with the wicked.

So God is challenging that.

If I am who you said that I am, Abraham, if I really am the everlasting God and I really am just, entrust your boy to me.

The discipline of the Lord is concerned, therefore, with all of Abraham.

Not just his hands, not just his heart, not just the beliefs of his mind, but all of him must be tested.

Abraham's not just asked to go to church and sit still and not make too much noise and then leave.

No.

Think, feel, and then do.

That's what obedience looks like.

It's concerned with all of you.

And God's testing will work that out.

But let's turn now to Abraham's obedience.

Verse 3.

We'll go quicker.

I've got a lot left to do.

Verse 3, and we'll pick it up.

So Abraham rose early in the morning.

If Moses intends this story to be instructive for the Israelites who are wanting the desert, then Abraham is clearly an example to follow.

Clearly a role model unto them for what is the proper response under testing.

And he is for us as well.

And so see how the patriarch refuses to procrastinate.

See how Abraham, the one who dared contend with God for the righteous of Sodom, doesn't quibble at the Command.

See how Abraham, who pleaded, all that Ishmael might live before you does not negotiate at this command.

We would expect the Abraham who put forth Eliezer of Damascus as the only heir in his household in an impatient complaint that God wasn't holding up his end of the deal.

We would expect that Abraham to turn around and say, Oh my Lord, all of my flocks for Isaac.

Oh God, all of the silver for Isaac.

All of the servants of my household for Isaac.

Oh Lord, take me.

Take me for Isaac.

Wouldn't we?

I would.

I don't think such a prayer would be sinful.

But notice that there's none of that here.

Abraham doesn't do that.

And so we see that obedience is prompt.

He procrastinates not.

He gets right to work.

He rose early in the morning, set about what God had put before him.

But what of us?

Don't we delay?

Don't we put it off until the right time?

I don't know about you guys, but the things I regret the most are the things I put off until the right time, and then it never came.

Apologies I should have made because it might have, but I didn't because it might have been awkward.

Relationships suffer that way.

Don't do it.

Don't wait.

Obey.

I can think of two young men who I knew at different points in my life when we were in school, and they both died before they graduated college.

Two young men who would have listened to me if I spoke with them, who did listen to me when I spoke to them.

And I didn't present the gospel.

I didn't present it clearly.

At the right time, it didn't present itself.

I think we all know what that's like.

Don't wait.

Don't wait.

Rise early.

Obey.

Verse 3.

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 wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

He made the necessary provisions.

Notice how thorough Moses is.

He's telling you about every detail.

And each of the ands in the story slows it down and makes you take notice.

So 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 wood for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place.

Got it all ready.

Obedience is prepared because it counts the cost.

So what provisions do we need to make?

What provisions do you need to make?

I have no doubt there are things on all of your hearts right now that you ought to do.

How do you get yourself ready?

Easiest way I know is to tell somebody.

Sincerely.

Before you leave, if there's something on your heart right now, tell somebody.

Tell them.

And if somebody walks up to you and says, I'm going to talk to my boss tomorrow, call them on Tuesday.

Take care of one another.

Let's spur one another on to good works.

Obedience is therefore prepared.

Does what it has to do to get ready.

And it counts the cost.

But I mean prepared in two ways, because not only does Abraham make provisions outside of himself, but he spends the next three days' journey making provisions inside of himself.

He has to get himself ready.

Imagine the turmoil.

Imagine.

Those of you with kids don't have to work very hard to think about how hard this would be.

But even if you don't, it's not hard to see it.

That every laugh from Isaac's heart must have just cut to the core of Abraham.

Setting up camp when darkness fell and handing the boy the tent peg and having to look him in the eyes.

That whole journey.

Every second counted.

He had to make himself ready.

And don't think you can do it without prayer.

Verse 4.

On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.

Then Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey.

I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

Finally.

Did you catch it?

Did you hear it?

When I first got this, it changed my life.

I'll read it again.

Abraham just said, I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.

One more time.

I and the boy, dot, dot, dot, will come again to you.

So much time back there.

Abraham decided somehow that Isaac was coming back.

What?

I'm not the first one to see it, I promise.

Hebrews 11, better than any commentary you'll ever find.

Hebrews 11.

By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, said by God.

God said this: Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

He that is Abraham considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead.

From which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.

Abraham, the one who had called upon the name of the Lord, the everlasting God in the shade of his tamarisk tree, had decided that God would bring Isaac back to life.

When did Abraham figure that out?

Abraham's so cool, he probably knew it the whole time.

Like God says, Abraham, and he said, Oh, you're gonna bring him back to life.

But we don't know that.

We don't know when Abraham figured it out.

But I've had enough experiences in my life where I start to obey, and then I understand why I'm doing it.

I understand why dad says, blow the rock, blow the grass out that way on the mower instead of towards the house.

Stuff like that.

You start doing it, and then you figure it out.

You don't have to know the why to obey God's commands.

Us grown-ups tend to forget that.

So I think it's more likely that as Abraham was walking alongside the pack mule, his eyes going from the back of Isaac's head up to the sky, his arm probably around the boy, he realized, he remembered that God had said repeatedly, like repeatedly, many times, God said, But through Isaac shall your offspring be named.

And so we see that Abraham trusted in the word of the Lord.

God said it, I will trust it.

If Isaac will inherit the promised land, if my offspring, my grandkids, will be named through Isaac, he has to live to have grandkids.

So somehow, I guess I suppose God could even bring him back from the dead.

That brings us to our next point on obedience.

It's planted, it's rooted in Revelation.

Abraham had been forced for the last several decades of his life to think long and hard about what this God of heaven had said to him.

Right?

He has his first son, Ishmael.

He loves that boy.

God says, I'm gonna give the promises to another boy.

Abraham responds, Oh, that Ishmael may live before you, and God says, No.

But Sarah, your wife, shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac.

God named the boy.

I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant, not a covenant till he's 15, an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

Abraham really believed that his God was the everlasting God.

He really believed that he was the judge of all the earth who would and does do what is right, and he was willing to bet Isaac's life on it.

We bet our kids' lives on stuff all the time.

You bet their life on their teachers at school?

Do you bet their life on your own reputation?

What do we sacrifice our kids to?

It took me 20 minutes to realize I would sacrifice my kids for a little bit extra sleep.

Man, I had to repent.

I didn't even leave the hospital.

We all put something before our kids sometime.

Abraham trusted God with his kids.

Your kids reveal what you love.

And Abraham was willing to bet Isaac's life on the character of God.

He didn't know how God would work it out.

He guessed that God would resurrect the boy.

This is the boy he resurrected from Sarah's dead womb.

Maybe he could resurrect him from the grave too.

This God is everlastingly powerful, and he only ever always does what is right.

This God will never allow evil to befall Isaac.

And so Isaac was never in any real danger if he was in the Lord's hands.

Abraham got that.

Abraham trusted in who God had revealed himself to be.

Both that God's word, through Isaac, shall your offspring be named, and God's character, that the judge of all the earth would do what is right.

He realized that he had everything he needed.

God had given him all he needed to obey.

Isaac was never in any danger if he was in the Lord's hands.

And so Abraham entrusted his son into the hands of God because he believed and submitted him to the self and submitted himself to the fact that God was stronger and wiser and kinder than Abraham was.

That God loved his son more than he did.

That God gave him Isaac in the first place.

That God had already made promises to Isaac, and God does not lie.

Abraham could see so clearly in chapters 12 to 22 how Abraham had failed time and time and time again to protect Isaac.

He did nothing for Isaac when he handed Sarah over to Pharaoh.

Foolishness.

Failed the test.

He sacrificed Isaac for his own neck that day.

But the everlasting God had not failed.

He protected Isaac when it protected Sarah and Isaac when Abraham failed.

God had already saved Isaac time and time and time again.

Abraham had every reason to entrust his son to God.

And so do we.

So often we think that we know more about raising our kids, or we know more about whether or not we have kids by now than God does.

Will you teach them about him?

And will you entrust your lack of kids to God?

He knows better than you do.

Verse 7.

Abraham had already taught Isaac all of this.

Verse 7.

And Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father.

And he said, Here I am, my son.

He said, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?

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

And so they went, both of them together.

Abraham knew when he left it up to the Lord.

This is no sleight of hand.

He's not kind of lying to his son, but not really just to make it easy.

No, it's this is not, well, we're almost there.

Just sit quiet and wait.

This is none of that kind of parenting trick.

Don't read your, I won't read myself back into the text.

You guys don't do it either.

He's not lying.

He's affirming to Isaac what he's been clinging to for three days.

God will provide.

God will provide.

God will provide.

It's his steadfast conviction and hope, and he passes it on to Isaac.

One commentator wrote, All that Abraham knew was that God had planned the future of the covenant around Isaac, and somehow that God wanted him to sacrifice Isaac.

He could not reconcile these two things in his own mind, but he could only do what God commanded him to do, leaving the future to God.

That is real faith.

That is faith.

It's cognitive, he's thought about it, he has reasons, and he knows God is stronger than him.

He knows God is wiser than him.

And so he's handed over his heart to the Lord.

Because he's seen who God has revealed himself to be.

So have you.

And so likewise Isaac, in a similarly magnificent act of faith, believes in the God his father believes in too.

Guys, realize Isaac is strong enough to carry a pack mule's load of wood up the mountain.

This is not a three-year-old.

This is no toddler.

Some commentators think he's my age.

Abraham's like 120.

And Isaac was bound, laid upon the altar.

Some of you, 80-year-olds, could try to tie me up and you'd have a hard time unless I was willing.

Isaac let his 120-year-old dad bind him and lay him on the altar.

Because Isaac knew the promises too.

He grew up with them.

Every day when he woke up and he realized that his friend Johnny's dad Abimelech was only like 65, but his dad was 103.

He goes, What is going on?

Hey dad, why are you old?

Well, you see, Isaac, you're the child of promise.

God gave you to us by a miracle.

We shouldn't have you.

We waited for you for 100 years, my son.

And the God who gave you to us like that has promised you this land.

This is your home.

Isaac was raised with the word of the Lord.

He knew the promises of God.

And he trusted that his dad knew them too.

And he trusted that his dad knew the Lord.

And he trusted that his dad would take care of him.

And that his God would take care of him.

In many ways, Isaac is the hero of this story.

Verse 9.

When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar on top of the wood.

Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, twice this time, louder, more interruptive.

And Abraham said, Here I am, exactly the same.

Just as obedient, just as ready, just as prompt and prepared.

And the angel said, Do not lay your 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.

Now it is known and known completely.

You and I have known since verse one that this is a test.

Abraham and Isaac did not know.

We have known that it was never really God's intent to see the boy harmed.

And now Abraham knows, and all of Israel knows, that child's sacrifice is an abomination before the Lord.

It's not what he wants.

They learned that through Abraham.

Because the Canaanites were doing it.

The Lord never intended to see Isaac harmed, nor would he ever.

What God wanted was to make Abraham's fear of the Lord manifest.

This is the outcome of testing.

It's proven character.

Because the testing of the Lord proves the genuineness of our faith.

If you want to know if you really believe or not, walk outside and obey the Lord.

You could spend the next 50 years of your life looking into your heart, trying to decide if your belief is sincere.

Or you could go share the gospel.

Or you can go love your neighbor.

Or you can go pray.

Obedience under testing proves the genuineness of our faith.

Romans chapter 5, verse 3.

Romans 5:3

I've got a lot of verses coming, they're all on the slide.

So just rest.

Read this with me.

Follow along as I read.

Worship leaders have learned the hard way to be careful when they say stuff like that.

Romans 5.

Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character.

And character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

Not all testing is suffering, but you better believe all suffering presents a test.

So testing, suffering, trials produce endurance and proven character because you get tougher the more you endure.

Now I know you fear God.

The angel of the Lord says, Peter agrees, 1 Peter 1, 16 and 17, in this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials.

So that the tested genuineness of your faith, more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor, the revelation of Jesus Christ.

What's more precious than gold?

The tested genuineness of the faith.

The tested genuineness.

Testing tells you you believe because it reveals what you think most deeply, what you love most truly.

When you're in a hard place, you're going to save your own skin?

Are you going to obey the Lord?

When your kid pukes on you, are you going to wipe off his face or your hand first?

That's the little things, right?

It's silly, but it's not if you think about it.

It's clear that Abraham's faith, as weak and small as a mustard seed when he left Ur, is increasingly genuine.

He believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteous, righteousness.

But it gets better, it gets stronger.

James even goes further.

He seems to say that the result of testing is steadfastness, which is the stuff that perfection is made of.

James 1, verse 2.

James 1:2

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

Even a little later, James says it yet more clearly.

But someone will say, You have faith and I have works, just as James 2, verse 18.

James 2:18

Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.

You believe that God is one, you do well.

Even the demons believe and shudder.

Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless?

Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar.

You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works.

A little phrase right there, faith was completed by his works.

Soak that up.

Wasn't the fullness of faith until it was sealed by his obedience, until it was sealed by his works, until he proved it.

And in that way, Abraham's obedience perfected his faith.

See that?

The same is true for you.

If the day you come to believe and you realize that the God you thought was a meanie isn't a meaning, and that you didn't get this story before, I hope you learned that.

I did.

And you come to put your faith in Jesus Christ, what's the first thing you're supposed to do?

Confess with your mouth and be baptized.

And your obedience seals your faith.

Because it becomes clear that you've obeyed.

Right?

So Abraham's obedience perfected his faith.

Now there's so much more that we could say about this.

Really, I could have gone for like six weeks on just this.

Jason said I only got one Sunday.

But I'll leave you with something to go and think about this week, and I mean think.

It's a fitting way to apply something.

Christians ought to be reflective, contemplative, ruminating sorts of people.

Often cows are.

Better at ruminating than Christians.

Chew this over.

Think it over.

And the Lord will give you understanding in these things.

Let your homework think.

But the last thing is this Hebrews chapter 2, verse 9.

Hebrews 2:9

But we see him who for a little while was made lower than angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, and bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering.

And ought to trouble you that the biblical writers say Jesus of Nazareth was made perfect.

But he did.

He does.

See, there's so much in this chapter, this story of Abraham and Isaac that takes us forward to Jesus that you can't not see when you see it.

But there's something about the obedience of Abraham that just really gets a hold of it.

Because it points to the obedience of Jesus of Nazareth.

Your salvation, the free gift of Christ, righteousness for your sinfulness, all of that, that he would die the death you deserve so you could live the life he earned was only possible because Jesus submitted himself to the testing of the Lord.

The incarnate word, the eternally begotten Son of the Father, took on flesh.

He's in the temple learning the Old Testament.

He submitted himself to the instruction of the Lord.

He submitted himself to learning.

He submitted himself to the discipline of the Lord's testing.

And he was obedient and he grew up.

Take that one home, kids.

Jesus grew up.

He wants you to grow up too.

He lived what you're living.

Philippians 2, verse 8.

Philippians 2:8

But being found in human form, Jesus humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

And this is the most marvelous thing.

The cross itself was a test.

It didn't happen to him.

No one takes my life from me, but I lay it down by my own authority and take it up again.

Every single second he hung on that cross, he could have ended it.

He could have killed himself early.

He could have hopped down and melted the planet.

He could have done anything he wanted to.

But he stayed there.

He hung there.

Think long and hard this week on the life of Jesus.

Was his testing not constant?

Did his suffering not get worse as he got older?

You could do all this just in Gethsemane.

Was the Father not concerned to try every part of his son, body, soul, heart, and mind, and so make him perfect as he proved he was perfect.

At each and every moment, each and every moment he proved himself obedient, he proved himself faithful.

He was ready to obey, never once delaying.

He was prepared in his heart and in his mind to ascend God to Silver.

He set his face like flint towards Jerusalem.

He stealed himself for the obedience ahead.

And to his dying breath, he clung to what God had said.

Almost everything he said on that tree was scripture.

He was rooted.

He was planted in Revelation.

And in the end, the tested genuineness of his faith proved mighty enough to conquer death itself.

Because in the end, not even death could keep the Father's son, his only son, Jesus, whom he loved, from receiving his promised inheritance.

And in Abraham's offspring, it's singular.

It's talking about Jesus.

And in Abraham's offspring, all the nations of the earth are blessed.

In Christ, in Jesus, in his obedience on the same mountain.

All the nations are blessed because Abraham obeyed the voice of the Lord.

Let's pray.

Oh Lord, give us the strength this week to obey you.

We know that strength, Father, comes not from our own hands, but from your Spirit's work in our hearts as you teach us the things that are true.

And so we ask that you would continue, continue to test us, continue to try us.

Lead us through troubled waters.

We know that you will not let us be consumed any more than you would have let Abraham sacrifice his son Isaac.

In your hands we are safe.

Please, Father, consume our dross, refine us as gold, prove our faith, and so establish us forever.

We trust you, Lord, and we love you in the name of your Son, your only Son, whom you love, Jesus.

It's in his name we pray.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.