The Isaac Test

If you got a Bible this morning, turn it to Genesis chapter 22.

Genesis 22 · chapter mention

My guys moved my notes, gave me a small palpitation for a moment.

I'm gonna wing it if I have to.

Genesis 22, and we're considering continuing our series, Friends with God.

And uh four secrets on how to be a friend with God.

We learned the first week was faith, second week was selflessness.

Last week we saw that Abraham loved people.

And this week we're gonna learn about the fourth thing in Genesis 22.

I have it has been my privilege these four weeks.

I've so looked forward to study and enjoy the time as it's drawn me closer to the Lord as well, and looking and investigating my own walk in friendship with God.

And so I hope that you have it as well.

And as we jump into Genesis 22, in 11th grade, I was at a private school and we had a pretty stringent set of rules to me a teenager.

And one of the rules were that you had to be clean shaven.

So at about 11 or 12 years old, I started developing a man mustache, which I was very proud of.

If I have some drop of Italian or whatever it is, I know I'm a mix of a lot of things.

But anyway, I thought that was really super cool.

And um, but the teachers would come out and they would check.

And one teacher in particular, he came around my tenth grade year, he was all the time checking on me.

And he would catch me out in the hall and he'd say, You didn't shave today.

And he would give me demerits.

And so after a while of getting those demerits, it really started to get under my skin and agitate me.

And uh, Mr.

Okowski, I always felt like he was just on the prowl.

He was just, he just wanted me to shave.

And I didn't want to shave every day, folks.

And so I still have that problem.

Any man here?

Okay.

I shave on Wednesday and Sunday, okay?

So I'm getting back at you if you're watching Mr.

Okowski.

I don't do it every day.

I'm just gonna tell you.

So that was a rule, and we got to merits, and because of that, my 11th grade year, he was my chemistry teacher, and I had decided in my mind that I was not gonna be listening to anything this old man had to say.

I just didn't have a care for any, because all I thought, all he cares about is me abiding by rules.

He doesn't care about my education, so I'm not gonna care about what he has to say.

Um, children in the room, that is not wise.

Um, I don't suggest that.

So through the year I was kind of skating by back and forth in my grade in chemistry, and it came down to the end of the year, final exam time, and I needed to get at the lowest of B, but really probably in A range.

And so I was kind of trying to cram and get in a year's worth of just goofing off to final.

And I never failed anything before, and so I thought, oh, I'll get by.

So I get to the test, and uh, listen, I've confessed this before the Lord, but I'll tell you all it again, don't judge me.

Okay.

But on the final exam, I took in a little piece of cheat paper, and we had to know 20 or 30 of the periodic elements on the periodic chart.

Now, I won't tell you now, but you can talk to me in the lobby.

I know some of them now, in order.

Okay.

Then I had, and I took a little piece of paper.

I'm not gonna tell you, teenager, you're in here.

I'm not telling you how I cheated, okay?

But I had it, and I might have had a pen that it was dropped into.

So, anyway, during said exam, I pull out my cheat sheet, I use my cheat sheet.

Okay, there were a hundred questions.

I had 40 correct, and I still failed.

Y'all, that's hard to do.

But I accomplished failure with 40 right answers guaranteed.

And so that summer was coming up.

My parents were ticked at me, and uh, it cost me$350 because I went to private school to take, we couldn't take it at my school.

I had to go find summer chemistry in order to go into my senior year.

Imagine how I'd feel my whole class getting ready to graduate, and I couldn't go if I didn't do this.

So$350, I find the class.

Not only did it cost me that, I was working at a moving company, making around$400 a week in the summer, maybe more.

And so I had to give up four weeks of moving money.

And so now we're getting into$15,000,$2,000.

I because of this choice I made goofing around.

Now I gotta tell you something.

The greatest tests come with the greatest cost.

That summer I learned a big life lesson.

I learned such a life lesson that I only ever got three more C's ever.

Okay, I never got close to an F again.

Never.

Because the cost was so great.

I had to go through a big test in my life to learn that.

I had to surrender that summer my pride and go deal with chemistry again.

I had to surrender my ego.

I had to surrender my wants.

I had things I wanted to do for that month of summer.

I had to surrender my financial goals.

I had money that I needed to be blowing.

And I didn't have it now.

I had to surrender a lot of things that summer.

Uh, Abraham, we're gonna see in Genesis 22, goes through life's greatest tests, and what he learns is the four secret is surrender.

I want to teach us this morning through the word of God how to be friends with God through surrender.

Let me pray on that.

Lord, hide me behind your word.

Use your word.

It changes man's life and has done so for centuries.

So, God, let your word do its work, and God, let us be filled because of it.

Lord, we love you in Jesus' name.

Amen.

If you didn't get a worship guide, let me say this.

Just raise your hand up.

We got worship guides.

Um, we got some guys that'll come and give you one.

Kids, we're thankful that you're in here with us.

I really wanted you to hear this story.

I thought it was appropriate with a father and son, and uh, I have no shame in building my crowd, so I'll bring the kids in if I got to.

All right.

Number one, on your outline, an upsetting summons is the first thing we're gonna look at in Genesis 22.

Let's read verses one and two.

It says, Now it came to pass after these things that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, and he said, Here I am.

Then he said, Take now 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.

So we see here an upsetting summons.

Sometimes it takes disappointment to see the strength in a relationship.

Some of you married folks will understand this.

Sometimes it's through life's greatest disappointments that you found out the strength of the mate that's sitting next to you.

And so what we'll see about this upsetting summons, first of all, letter A, is a relational assessment.

We're going to see the relationship between God and Abraham.

Is Abraham really the friend of God that we've been talking about?

In Genesis 12, if you go back to week one, we saw that God chose Abraham out of idolatrous Ur.

He chose him.

He just, as if to point his heavenly finger down on a wicked place, decided, Abraham's my God.

He chose him and then he called him.

And we see the result of his calling in Genesis 15, verse 6.

Genesis 15:6

It says, He believed on God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

The result is he believed and it was counted for him.

In Romans 10, 9 and 10, it says, This church, if we believe with our heart and confess with our mouth in the Lord Jesus, that we'll be saved.

This is salvation.

Abraham has a real relationship with God and he's walking with God.

So as we get further in their assessment, we find out that Abraham, through this scripture, is in a place where he can hear from God.

God speaks and he hears.

Now don't let that just pass you by.

It says that God called on him, and Abraham said, Here I am.

And so many times I think God is calling, God is speaking, God is trying to get our attention, and we may not be in a place to hear from God in our walk with him.

So we find out in this relationship that Abraham is in a place, he's walking with the Lord.

And then it says this little phrase, after these things.

Well, what things?

After what things?

Life things.

Abraham and Sarah have been living 25 years, waiting and tent living, and God came one day, we talked about it last week, telling Abraham, in a year they would have a child.

I said I'd get back to this.

So when God came and said, you will have a child in a year, Sarah laughed.

Now Sarah gets a real bad rap for laughing about this.

Okay.

I want you to understand a little bit.

Sarah was simply looking factually at her life circumstances, which communicated to her, that's funny, because I'm 90 years old.

Any ladies think that's a little absurd?

Okay?

You're gonna have a baby in one year, 90 years old, white hair, body weak, feeble, has lost her desire for anything like that.

And God says, You're about to have a baby.

Nine months of pregnancy, how about that?

And she laughs.

It sounds absurd, it sounds crazy.

In Sarah's mind, probably that's not even funny, God.

Like that's insanity.

And so she gets this bad rap.

If you want to go back in Genesis 17, so you can see these words proven, verse 17.

Sarah gets talked about a lot.

There's messages about Sarah laughing at this because of her disbelief.

Look at 17, 17.

Same thing was told to Abraham.

Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old?

And shall Sarah, who is 90 years old, bear a child?

Abraham hears it and falls on the ground.

Ha ha ha!

You look, I know you gave us that promise, but Lord, you crazy.

He fell on the ground.

God teaches them through this a really important truth.

After Sarah laughs, God brings this question to mind.

He said, Is there anything too hard for the Lord?

Abraham and Sarah, is there anything too hard for the Lord?

Have you ever thought something sounded absurd and then God did it?

You ever saw somebody in the hospital and you maybe even prayed for them, but you was like, it ain't gonna happen.

Y'all hearing me?

Oh God, that you would give me someday that land or that business or God bless this person in my family so far from God.

I know they'll never.

But Lord, would you?

And you're like, He actually did the thing.

And so he says, Is there anything too hard from me?

A year later, the beloved, the promised son, is born.

I'm just catching us up to this point.

Isaac has been born.

About 15 years have passed.

This is the after these things, okay?

And so now God speaks.

When you survey your life, are you at a place when God speaks that you hear him?

So we see first Abraham is walking with the Lord, and then the summons test comes.

And that'll take us to letter B, Abraham's readiness.

It's a readiness inspection.

The upsetting summons comes with an inspection of Abraham's readiness.

Look again at verse 2.

He says, Take now 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, which I shall tell you.

So God brings down a challenge.

Twenty-five years.

Abraham has waited for this promise.

Twenty-five years of praying, twenty five years of hoping for a son, twenty five years of trusting, twenty five years of believing that someday God said, My seed is going to go forth out of this sun.

And so he's been waiting and watching, waiting on the Lord.

CCW, I want you to understand something.

Real faith is always tested.

Real true faith will always be tested.

You don't see anything in the Bible anywhere about our sub-character we've been talking about, Lot, where God is testing Lot.

Not any place.

Why was Lot never tested?

Because Lot was worldly.

Lot was selfish, and Lot was foolish, and that can't be trusted.

When God trusts you, church, listen to me.

Hear this.

He will test you.

There's two reasons why I think that's true.

Number one, it shows you that he can take care of you through the test.

God will test you, number one, because he wants to show you that he can take care of you.

And number two, he wants to show the world that he is worthy of your surrender.

So we see this challenge laid out.

Well, what's the cost of the challenge?

It says this, thy only son.

Take your son.

Hebrews 11, 17 and 18 says this.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise offered up his only begotten son, of whom it was said, In Isaac, your seed shall be called.

Thy only son.

This is the cost.

Give me your son, thy only son.

Sounds familiar, right?

Like John 3.16, familiar?

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.

This is a foreshadowing of the gospel.

Okay?

God asked this question to Abraham, his friend.

You've been waiting, you've been watching, you've been hoping on this son.

Is Isaac now your son that you love?

Has Isaac become an idol?

Parents.

This is tough.

Families.

Has Isaac become an idol?

Are you living your life vicariously through this boy?

Is this your idol?

Is this thing before me?

Are you willing to give up your son?

You say, Well, God, I'll give up me, I'll give up my likes, I'll give up my habits, I'll give up my money.

But God, I'm never gonna give up my babies.

And he says, Your son.

Do you love your son more than you love me?

Are you willing to give him up?

It answers this question that God wants to know for all of us.

Did you obey me because you love me?

Or did you obey me because it's a part of the deal for Isaac?

Do you really love me?

So the cost is show God through this sacrifice, through this surrender.

That's the cost.

Now there's a contemplation.

Scripture doesn't put it out, but I think if you look through the end of chapter 22, verse 2 and verse 3, God says, do this thing.

Verse 3 says, so Abraham started doing this thing.

But I think I would suggest that there's a contemplation.

Okay?

Scripture doesn't lay this out, but you'd have to feel something.

In Scripture, there's no mistakes in Scripture.

There's no emotions laid out from Abraham.

No feelings.

Why?

Don't you think Abraham fought?

This makes no sense.

God, how can my son, the seed of this promise you've been giving me?

Genesis 9, God says that you condemn murder.

This is a theological contradiction.

This is a biblical contradiction.

It's an emotional contradiction, God, my son, my only son, who I've waited for and loved, you want me to do this thing?

It makes no sense.

Then it was a relationship contradiction.

Lord, how are we going to explain this to Sarah?

Because that's the boy's baby mama.

And Lord, you know that ain't nothing but some drama.

That explains why in verse 3, look at what it says.

Abraham rose up early.

He had to get up before Sarah did.

So he didn't have any explaining to be doing.

And so we see these contradictions.

I want you to understand something.

Pastor Tony Evans says this when God calls you to a major test, don't forget what he did in all the quizzes.

When God calls you to something big, don't forget what he did in the little things along the way.

And that takes us to Abraham's response number two this morning.

An undeniable surrender.

He had an undeniable surrender.

Verse 3 says this.

And so Abraham, letter A, under an undeniable surrender, he just commenced to working.

He just started after it.

And I want to tell you something.

If you turn your Bible, I got a couple of scriptures here in James that you need to see.

Okay.

In James chapter 2, it talks a little bit about what Abraham was doing here.

James 2 · chapter mention

He just started working.

He got after it.

He commenced to working.

And so look at what it says in James chapter 2, verse 21 through 24.

James 2:21–24

It says, Was not Abraham our father justified?

Listen, by works, when he offered Isaac his son on the altar, did you see that faith was working together with works?

And by works faith was made perfect, and the scripture was fulfilled, which says Abraham believed God and was counted to him for righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

You see then that a man is justified by works and not faith only.

So this question in James, is it faith or is it works?

And he says, it's it's both.

Because of his faith in God, he believed and he commenced to working.

He began.

And James talks a lot about this, Christian.

James 1.22 says, Be ye a doer of the word.

I tell the teens every week, don't be a donor.

Be a doer.

Be a doer of the word.

It says, not just a hearer only.

Don't just sit.

Go out and do.

It says, do, commence to working.

In James 4.17, James had a lot of this.

I guess he was sick of people sitting around.

He said in James 4.17, therefore, to him that knoweth to do good and doesn't do it, to him it is sin.

He says, if you've got an opportunity to work, then work.

He says, get after it.

In my house, when Heather and I are having a discussion, some might call it a fight.

When we're upset, we commence to working.

I do things I wouldn't normally do when I'm upset.

I'm like, if she's cleaning, I'm cleaning.

Oh, you want to be productive?

Well, you just wait.

You just wait.

She starts doing dishes, and I'm telling you, things are clanging, cabinets are open, cling, cling, dishes are being put up, and I'm like, well, that's it.

I'm grabbing the broom and I'm sweeping the floor.

That's it.

You want to be productive?

I sweep, sweep, sweep, sweep the wood off the floor.

I'm angry.

I'm like, you are not gonna beat me in working.

Let me tell you that.

We won't talk.

We just get it out by working.

I've never been more productive than when I'm angry about something.

I clean a room so good.

I wonder if Abraham was mad.

He had to be.

But he just got working.

Abraham had known how to bring God an offering.

It had just never been a human.

So he got to work.

He grabbed his stuff and he saddled his donkey.

He grabbed the wood and he just got after it.

By the way, church, this is a four-letter word that solves poverty.

Work.

Okay?

Four-letter word that solves poverty.

Our problem is work.

Get to work.

Do what you know to do.

Abraham doesn't pout, doesn't say he stirred up the family or even a prayer group.

He hears God's voice and he listens explicitly to what God said.

God didn't say go gather up Sarah.

So he didn't go gather up Sarah.

He didn't say pray about this.

He said go.

He didn't worry about what he didn't know.

He got to work and did what he did know.

Somebody say work.

Thank you.

When we're going home sometimes, it'd be after church or something like that, we'll pass Chelsea Park.

And my kids' antennas go up.

You know, we live in Chelsea Park.

They're like, where are we going?

What are we doing?

What why why have we passed the clock tower?

What's happening?

And we have, listen, three different personalities.

And I may be taking them to something fun.

It could be a surprise.

It could be no fun at all.

Okay?

But I'm I'm going someplace.

And with three different personalities, two of them may like the thing, one of them will always complain.

Two like it, the other one's gonna complain.

There will always be this conflict.

And so most of the time, I just don't tell them.

I know where I'm going, okay?

And they hate certain things.

They hate Aldi, okay?

Y'all, they hate Aldi like it's punishment.

All right?

And so sometimes they'll be in the house cleaning up their room.

I'm like, you better make this room spotless, or we will get in the car, go to Aldi and get some groceries.

I am serious.

And so, but here's the thing.

You, I'm like to my kids, you kids just need to trust that I know what I'm doing.

I know what we need, and I know where we're going, and that's enough.

CCW, do you trust God that way?

He knows what he's doing.

He knows what he's going to do.

He just says, trust him and get to work.

Just get to work.

Listen, you don't have to be happy to be obedient.

But just grab that broom.

Y'all hear me?

You may find out when it's all over and the discussion is over with that it's all right.

And now you got something productive that's happened because you got to work.

Get your broom.

Listen, Matt came up here and shared some needs.

Man, can we get a somebody to come and play with the kids for 45 minutes for the games?

I mean, 45 minutes a week.

We need somebody.

We need people to come listen to these pure little hearts.

Share scripture.

All you gotta do is listen.

And we need people to do that.

And we say, well, God, I don't know.

I'll have to think about my just get to work.

Sometimes God just wants you to get to work.

And so Abraham is undeniably surrendered because he commences to working.

And the second thing we see about it, Abraham, I believe, continued, probably wandering.

Says in verse 4, then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw a place afar off.

So he goes on this journey.

Three days.

Probably, I would guess, a quiet ride.

Why the suddenness of the move.

Dad, we've been worshiping God, going places and bringing him offerings forever.

Why all the sudden, early in the morning?

Why has this happened?

Eerily silent.

Three days.

I think in three days, Abraham was wandering back to his journey with God.

Genesis 12, God told him, Leave all you know, and I'm not telling you where to go.

In Genesis 22, he says, Go to a mountain and I'll tell you the place later.

He says, Get your son and go.

Genesis 12, he said, just begin and he began.

Genesis 22, he began.

He said, and then God will tell you more.

Genesis 12, it said, Abraham went by faith.

Genesis 22, Abraham started going.

He went by faith.

Genesis 12 said, I will bless your lineage if you do what I tell you.

Genesis 22, he said, give me up your lineage.

Listen, the Bible, this here is not just poetic symmetry in the text.

God is communicating a clear message throughout text that he wants us to get.

And he's saying to this, All to Jesus I surrender.

You've heard that old song.

I surrender all to him.

All to him I freely give.

He wants all.

And Abraham continued on this journey three days, and I'm sure that he was wandering these things.

Look further after that, what it says in verse 4 and 5.

This is letter C, Abraham communed by worshiping.

And Abraham said to his young man, Stay here with the donkey, the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come back.

Keep that in your frontal lobe for a minute.

We will come back.

Abraham communed by worshiping.

The question is this how do you worship God with a broken heart?

How do you worship God in your biggest test?

Some of y'all have been through some real life things, some threatening things.

You've been through some health scares.

You've been through some trying times.

There's people in here who have lost a child.

You've been through life.

How do you worship God when baby's in the hospital?

How do you worship God when you've lost your finances and your business?

How do you worship God with a broken heart?

Verse 4 and 5, he says, the lad and I will go to worship to his men, and he says, and we will be back.

Please don't miss this.

This is the key to the entire text.

Abraham had a breakthrough.

I don't know if it was maybe day two, but he had a breakthrough in thought.

He had a breakthrough in prayer.

Some of us need to get to God in prayer sometimes and have a breakthrough.

He thought God said, God said he would bless me through Isaac.

God's never lied.

Church, he can't lie.

And he's immutable.

He can't even change that.

He won't change.

God's part of his nature is that he won't lie.

What he says he will do, he will do.

He won't change.

God said, I will bless your lineage, but he wants me to offer my lineage.

And Abraham's calculating and thinking, and I want you to turn your Bible for a second to Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

Abraham's thinking, what does this mean?

How do we get this place?

God's not a liar.

I know he's not a liar.

He's never been a liar.

Maybe that means for God to bless my son, he has to have my son.

Look at Hebrews 11, 19.

Look at what Abraham deduced from the situation.

It says, concluding that God was able to raise him up even from the dead.

Abraham's on this trip, on this journey.

And all of a sudden it strikes him.

God's able to raise Isaac up.

He promised me, God's not a liar.

God promised me this son, it would be the inheritance.

Don't miss this.

When you're close to the heart of God, you get spiritual insight.

When you're friends with God, God just turns on the lights and shows you things.

You get superior to human insight.

You're privy to the divine.

When you're close to God, and Abram said, and he says, I'm going to slay my son.

Listen, I bet he thought this.

There was a time where Sarah and I couldn't have a son.

Sarah had a barren womb.

That means she had a dead womb.

It was dead, and out of that dead thing, God created life.

That's it, he says, God can resurrect the dead.

We've never seen it, we've never heard of it.

He said, Boys, we're going to worship, but we're coming back.

Me and the boy are going to worship God and we're going to come back.

We will be back.

Don't miss the insight here.

Before God ever mentions in Scripture the word resurrection, Abraham believed that there could be a resurrection.

Church, do you understand that this is the crux of Christianity?

The resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This is the pillar of what we believe in.

It holds together all of what we believe.

There's atheists that want to deny it, it hurts their case.

Atheists have a swoon theory that says that he was just really badly beaten up.

He was marred, but never died.

But crucifixion was perfected to kill a man.

But they want to say this.

They want to say that the disciples or the ladies afterward took and stole the body.

They don't want to believe this because the resurrection of Christ puts to death all other theories.

Here's one for fun.

Why did all the worship soon after Christ's death begin to be observed by Christians and everyone else who worship on Sunday?

You see, the Sabbath up to that point was Saturday.

Now from then on, they have records of up to two extra biblical records of accounts from two weeks out that showed that observances were starting on Sundays.

We're not talking about in the Bible.

We're talking outside the Bible accounts.

The resurrection kills all those theories.

And Abraham's friendship with God was so real.

Come on.

Church, before anyone had heard of such an idea, he believed in the pillar of our Christianity.

He believed that God would bring a dead person back to life.

He said, We're going, boys, but we will be back.

Jesus, church, died.

He was buried and rose again.

And he said, Church, I'm going to go.

But one day I'm going to come back and I'm coming for my bride.

And he said, one day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess my name.

Listen, y'all gotta let me go, and we're only on verse 4.

We gotta move.

Somebody high-five your neighbor and say he's coming back.

He's coming back.

Isn't it incredible, church, that Abraham believed in the resurrection?

He believed it.

This is the gospel.

Abraham is worshiping God through his hardest trial.

Why don't you see what he does?

Abraham goes on.

So Abraham, verse 6, took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac, his son, and he took the fire in his hand and a knife, and the two of them went up the mountain together.

So he hands Isaac the wood, the torch, and he hands him a knife.

It's amazing how children have the uncanny knack for pointing out the elephant in the room.

It's been silent, nobody's been talking, and here's Isaac.

Dad, we've done this before.

We've gone to church, we've worshiped.

There's something not quite right here.

Dad, I don't see the lamb.

What are we going to sacrifice, Dad?

And Abraham's looking at his son, and it says tenderly after this, that tenderly Abraham looks at him and says, think about the faith and belief in this statement.

My son, God will provide a ram.

He'll provide it.

So he goes on and he builds the altar.

He gets the wood.

He never tells Isaac.

He never says, because imagine this conversation.

He can't look at Isaac and say, Isaac, you're the lamb.

He can't say you're the lamb.

Do you know why he can't say you're the lamb?

Because Abraham is old.

And old people don't like chasing teenagers through the woods.

You know what I'm saying?

Picture that scene.

So he says quietly, Isaac, just come here.

Trust Dad.

And he puts ropes on him.

Just give me your hands.

Ropes him up, ropes his legs up.

And Isaac's like, Dad, it's weird.

Weird game, Dad.

I don't, why are we doing this?

This is really getting strange.

We're out in the woods.

We left the guys.

Why am I roped up?

What are you doing?

And then he takes him, 100 years old.

I don't know how this looked, but he lays, it says he laid him on the altar.

He picks Isaac up, puts him on the altar.

And now he's like, Dad, Dad, this is really getting strange.

What are we doing?

And so he puts him on that altar.

This church is worship.

When you're willing to surrender anything to be obedient to God's call.

He believed in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

But I believe still there were tears rolling down Abraham's cheek as he took that boy.

He had faith and believed in what God could do, but I believe there was real tears.

And he placed his boy down because pain is still real.

Jesus knew he would resurrect.

And let me tell you something, Jesus went through real pain.

He was beaten and battered and marred, and he asked God when the relationship split, he called out to him.

There's real pain.

Even though he has faith.

And I want you to understand that you may have great faith.

That doesn't make pain be any less.

It's real.

But he says, Will you surrender everything?

Charles Spurgeon said, Nothing teaches us the preciousness of the Creator as much as when we learn the emptiness of everything else.

In this moment, I believe Abraham said there's nothing.

If he was willing to give the Son that he was promised all that he loved, he would stop at nothing to make his God happy.

And that takes us to number three: an unlimited supply.

We see an unlimited supply.

Let me read here.

He brought his son, put him on the altar, and Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself.

This is verse eight for a burnt offering.

So the two of them went together.

They came to the place which God had told him, and Abraham built an altar there.

Isaac would in order.

Verse number 10.

It says, And Abraham stretched out his son and took the knife to slay his son.

Letter A under unlimited supply.

We see Abraham proves his reliability.

Abraham stretches out with knife in his hand.

He was going to take his son's life, but knew in his heart that God was no liar.

If a man can take it, God can give it.

And he takes that knife in his hand and he was going to do something nobody had seen.

He believed God would do something nobody had ever seen.

In this moment, his son's eyes are wide open, looking at his father, like, what is going on here?

This was ultimate surrender.

Verse 11, knife in hand, Jesus from heaven yells to Abraham twice.

Anytime in the Bible you see somebody's name twice, it's important.

It means pay attention, listen up, hear these words.

Don't you miss this when Jesus calls your name twice, church?

And he says, listen up, verse 12 or verse 11.

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

So he said, Here I am.

And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lad or do anything to him.

For now, listen to what it says, for now I know.

Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son from me.

That phrase there is important.

He said, For now I know.

For now I know.

Do you have a for now I know moment with God?

For now I know you believe in me.

For now I know you're surrendered to me.

There's some people that sit on the fence.

God wants a for now I know.

And where they're at is, for now there's a test.

For now there's a trial, for now there's a struggle.

But listen, God, God's patient.

God will wait until you pass.

He wants you to pass.

He says, for now I know.

There's nothing in my life that I think is equal to leading a soul to Christ.

I've had opportunity to lead a lot of lost people to Christ.

God's hand gives some baskets to me.

He's sent people to my porch before.

I'm telling you, it's beautiful.

When somebody's ready to know Christ.

And when a teenager shows up at your door at 3 p.m.

and tells you he's ready, that's a basket.

Okay?

And so I brought a kid in one time, led him to I think Weston, one of them, why maybe was real young and Heather was gone.

And I got carried away in the conversation, leading the boy to Christ.

I come back and they had pen all over them, just written all over their self.

I'm like, but in that moment, I'm focused.

Nothing is like that, but when I was on a mission trip and I saw one of my teenagers leading their first soul to Christ, I said, for now I know.

For now I know they're ready.

I thought there was nothing like leading a soul to Christ till I saw Christ that I led to Christ lead a soul to Christ.

And I said, now I know.

Now I know.

When I see my kids go door to door with me, now I know.

Now I know.

And he says, This is my child Abraham.

You're looking at your boy Isaac, but I'm looking at you and I'm saying, Now I know.

Jesus, he said, now I know.

One day, if you're faithful, God the Father will look into your eyes and say, Now I know.

Well done.

Thou good and faithful servant.

He said, You are reliable.

You have passed the test.

He said, You passed the test.

And so we see, verse 13 and 14, it takes us to letter B.

Abraham passed the test.

He raised knife in hand, he was ready.

The angel stops him.

Verse 13 and 14 says, Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked.

And there behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it for a burnt offering instead of his son.

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

So God provides a ram.

Why is a question?

Why did God provide a ram?

Number one, God does not accept human sacrifice.

Man is morally blemished.

God will not accept a sinful sacrifice.

This is a foreshadowing of what we find in 1 Peter 1.

It says this, 1 Peter 1, 18 and 19, knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, we are not bought with corruption, like silver or gold.

You can't buy your way into Christ's good graces.

From your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers.

It's nothing that came up with you that you're going to offer to God and make your way to heaven.

He says, none of that will work.

But you were redeemed with precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without spot and blemish.

It's a foreshadowing.

You see, redemption requires unmarked, unstained, unsoiled, spotlessness.

Church, Jesus died on a cross for your sin.

That's the only thing that covers our way.

And so God provides a ram.

It's a foreshadowing of God providing the Lamb.

So I want you to see something in John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

If you got time to turn there, you can.

God provides a ram.

And then we see John chapter 8, verse 56.

John 8:56

Keep your finger in Genesis 22, because I want you to see something here.

It says, Your father Abraham, John 8, 56, your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day.

He saw it and was glad.

What does that mean?

He rejoiced to see my day.

He saw it and he was glad.

Back in Genesis 22, verse 4, it says, On the third day, Abraham lifted eyes and saw the place afar off.

Genesis 22:4

I'll tell you what I think this means.

I think Abraham was on that journey, on his way to Mount Moriah, and he looks in the distance and he sees something.

Something clicked between day two and three because he believed in the resurrection.

And so he sees Mount Moriah, and you've got to know something about Mount Moriah.

Jesus said, Abraham saw my day.

Let me tell you the secret about Mount Moriah is this.

It's located just a few hundred yards from Golgotha, the place of the crucifixion.

It says he stopped, he paused, and he looked off, he pondered, he saw something.

Something changed his outlook.

He saw, he smiled.

It says this that he saw, Jesus says this, that he saw my day and he was glad.

He saw his day and he looked in the distance and he said, Woo! Oh Lord, woo! Lord.

Abraham on his journey was focused on Jesus.

He saw this thing that Jesus would do.

And that's why it says Hebrews 12 that we can, 12, too, looking unto Jesus, the author and finish of our faith.

While you're on the journey of the final exam, you've got to keep your eyes fixed on Jesus.

Focusing on Jesus will get you up your mountain.

Focusing on Jesus, don't look at people on your journey, don't look at circumstances on your journey.

Don't look at finances on your journey.

When you're in doubt, look at Jesus.

When you're afraid, look at Jesus.

Look at Jesus when you're tempted.

When you fail, look at Jesus.

When you fall, look at Jesus.

When you're frustrated, church, look at Jesus.

When you're sick, look at Jesus.

When you're lonely and confused, look at Jesus.

Look at Jesus.

Just look at Jesus.

Looking at Jesus.

Turn to your neighbor somebody, say, look at Jesus.

Will you look at him?

There's only one way to keep looking at Jesus, and that way is surrender.

We could stop there.

We could have the altar call.

But you need to see something else.

Verses 15 through 18.

God's promises are renewed.

The angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time out of heaven and said, By myself I have sworn, says the Lord, because you have done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son.

Blessing, I will bless you.

Multiplying, I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens and the sands which is on the shore.

Verse 18 In your seed all nations of the earth shall be blessed, because, listen, you have obeyed my voice.

God's promises are renewed.

It says here that God gives an oath.

God had promised, and a promise and an oath are different.

A promise doesn't have a time frame.

He said, I will bless you, and your seed will go forth, and there's no timeline to that.

He just says, This will happen.

He makes a promise.

Now God says, I have sworn and I will not withhold doing this thing.

God gives an oath.

And you need to see this.

Turn to one last scripture, Galatians chapter 3.

Galatians 3 · chapter mention

I want you to see what it says.

Galatians 3 and verse 29.

God's promises are renewed.

He said, I'm going to bless your people.

You're going to go forth.

Look at what it says in Galatians 3.29.

And if you are Christ, if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise.

Church, if you belong to Christ, then you're part of Abraham's seed.

You're heirs of Abraham.

If you've accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior today, Abraham is your grandpa.

Abraham is in your line.

There's only one way to receive his promises, it's through surrender.

See, Abraham was a friend of God because he had faith, he was selfless, he loved people, and he was surrendered to God.

Jim Elliott said this.

One of the most famous missionaries we've seen in years.

Three years before he was martyred, he summed up his joy and surrender with this statement.

He said, Church, he is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.

Scripture says you can gain the whole world and lose your soul.

But if you gain friendship with Christ, you'll worship for all eternity.

I'm going to ask you to bow your heads this morning.

And I want to first address Church, those who have come this morning, and if you're honest, you haven't given your life to Jesus Christ.

You have not accepted the payment of your sins, that spotless lamb that was slain for you and for me.

You have not surrendered that.

Listen to me, Church.

Jesus Christ gave all.

He surrendered all on a cross.

He was beaten and battered and marred.

He didn't look human.

He gave everything for you and for me.

And maybe you're here this morning, you say, Pastor Rick, if I'm real honest, Jesus Christ isn't my Savior.

I have not surrendered myself to Him as Lord.

If you're like that today, Scripture says you can pray a prayer.

If you'll believe in your heart that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again, that you can be saved.

So I'm going to leave.