The Lord Will Provide (Genesis 22)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:01.320 --> 00:00:05.400 Would you turn with me, please, to Genesis Chapter Twenty Two, genesis 2 00:00:05.759 --> 00:00:13.669 twenty two, and will hear God's word concerning what is sometimes called the sacrifice 3 00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:22.460 of Isaac. For those of you who are perhaps unfamiliar or not remembering these 4 00:00:24.260 --> 00:00:27.859 this early history of God's people, just want to remind you of one thing 5 00:00:28.500 --> 00:00:31.739 before we begin, and that is that Isaac, on the son of Abraham, 6 00:00:31.820 --> 00:00:37.210 here is the promised son, the long awaited son, the miraculous son 7 00:00:38.049 --> 00:00:44.969 that God had provided for Abraham. And with that in mind, let's go 8 00:00:45.009 --> 00:00:52.840 ahead and hear Genesis chapter twenty two. After these things, God tested Abraham 9 00:00:52.880 --> 00:00:58.159 and said to him, Abraham, and he said here I am. He 10 00:00:58.320 --> 00:01:00.840 said, take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, 11 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:06.430 and go to the land of Mariah and offer him there as a burnt 12 00:01:06.510 --> 00:01:11.670 offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you. So Abraham 13 00:01:11.709 --> 00:01:15.349 rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey and took two of his young 14 00:01:15.469 --> 00:01:18.980 men with him and his son Isaac, and he cut the wood for the 15 00:01:19.060 --> 00:01:23.780 burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. 16 00:01:23.819 --> 00:01:27.700 On the third day, Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place 17 00:01:27.780 --> 00:01:33.129 from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, stay here with the 18 00:01:33.250 --> 00:01:38.049 donkey. I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again 19 00:01:38.129 --> 00:01:42.090 to you and Abraham. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid 20 00:01:42.129 --> 00:01:46.489 it on his son. Laid it on Isaac, his son, and he 21 00:01:46.609 --> 00:01:52.079 took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went, both 22 00:01:52.120 --> 00:01:56.439 of them together and Isaac said to his father, Abraham, my father, 23 00:01:57.200 --> 00:02:00.790 and he said here I am, my son. He said, behold the 24 00:02:01.069 --> 00:02:05.549 fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? 25 00:02:05.590 --> 00:02:10.870 Abraham said God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my 26 00:02:12.030 --> 00:02:15.379 son. So they went both of them together. When they came to the 27 00:02:15.460 --> 00:02:20.219 place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid 28 00:02:20.219 --> 00:02:23.860 the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on 29 00:02:23.979 --> 00:02:29.379 the altar on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and 30 00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:34.210 took the knife to slaughter his son, but the angel of the Lord called 31 00:02:34.250 --> 00:02:38.810 to him from Heaven and said Abraham, Abraham, and he said here I 32 00:02:38.889 --> 00:02:43.009 am. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do 33 00:02:43.169 --> 00:02:46.000 anything to him. For now. I know that you fear God, seeing 34 00:02:46.080 --> 00:02:50.400 that you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me. 35 00:02:51.520 --> 00:02:54.599 and Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold behind him was a 36 00:02:54.759 --> 00:03:00.710 ram caught in a thicket by its horns, by his horns, and Abraham 37 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:05.389 went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of 38 00:03:05.509 --> 00:03:09.909 his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, Yahweh will provide, 39 00:03:10.469 --> 00:03:13.979 as it is said to this day, on the Mount of Yahweh. 40 00:03:14.419 --> 00:03:17.060 It shall be provided. And the angel of the Lord, the angel of 41 00:03:17.099 --> 00:03:22.580 Yahway, called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said by myself, 42 00:03:22.620 --> 00:03:25.620 I have sworn, declares the Lord. Because you have done this and have 43 00:03:25.819 --> 00:03:30.409 not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you. 44 00:03:30.889 --> 00:03:34.810 I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of the heaven and is the 45 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:38.409 sand that is on the seashore, and your offspring shall possess the gate of 46 00:03:38.490 --> 00:03:43.240 his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the Earth be 47 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:47.719 blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. So Abraham returned to his young 48 00:03:47.800 --> 00:03:53.400 men and they arose and went together to Beersheba and Abraham lived at Beersheba. 49 00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.590 Now, after these things, it was told to Abraham, behold, Milka 50 00:03:58.750 --> 00:04:03.030 has all has borne children to your brother Nahor us, his firstborn, buzz, 51 00:04:03.150 --> 00:04:10.099 his brother Kemuel, the father of all Ram kesed Hazo, Pildash Jud 52 00:04:10.099 --> 00:04:16.500 Laugh, Jid laugh and Bethuel. Bethuel fathered Rebecca. These a Milka bore 53 00:04:16.579 --> 00:04:21.220 to Nahor Abraham, Abraham's brother, moreover, his concubine, whose name was 54 00:04:21.579 --> 00:04:32.730 really a Rhuma, Bor teba, Gemma, to Hash and my co praise 55 00:04:32.810 --> 00:04:42.279 God for his word. What is one of those chapters in the Bible that 56 00:04:42.439 --> 00:04:46.879 is so, so very rich, so much to reflect on, so much 57 00:04:46.560 --> 00:04:51.120 to think on, and yet at the same time it's a very simple story. 58 00:04:51.759 --> 00:04:58.389 It's not complicated on there aren't a lot of twists and turns and confusing 59 00:04:58.589 --> 00:05:03.910 things, except that it is very humbling, and in that there are important 60 00:05:03.949 --> 00:05:09.779 things for us to learn, and one of those things, I think, 61 00:05:09.939 --> 00:05:15.939 that we learn from this passage is it puts a check on our desire for 62 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:24.769 an easy life, particularly and easy spiritual life. A lot of people, 63 00:05:24.810 --> 00:05:30.089 more than anything else, want life to be easy. We want the path 64 00:05:30.410 --> 00:05:34.720 to be smooth, we want guaranteed success for our work. We want assurances 65 00:05:34.839 --> 00:05:39.439 that if we invest our money we're going to get a return, that if 66 00:05:39.480 --> 00:05:43.839 we invest in a person, that that person will be friendly in return. 67 00:05:43.959 --> 00:05:47.040 If we plant seeds the the seeds will grow. If we live a moral 68 00:05:47.199 --> 00:05:50.670 life, then we will do well and things will be okay. We want 69 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:56.670 success and that's not a bad thing. Those all of those things that I 70 00:05:56.750 --> 00:06:00.589 mentioned tend to lead to those things and God has ordered that to be so. 71 00:06:01.189 --> 00:06:09.180 Ordered that to be so. Is a way to express this, as 72 00:06:09.220 --> 00:06:14.060 we read in the fifth commandment this morning in the shorter catechism, when we 73 00:06:14.180 --> 00:06:17.569 obey the Lord's command we tend to have longer lives, we tend to have 74 00:06:18.050 --> 00:06:23.930 better lives, easier lives. But you may remember from our reading this morning, 75 00:06:24.009 --> 00:06:29.209 the catechism also says as far as it is for our good and for 76 00:06:29.329 --> 00:06:34.199 God's glory. The one thing, and one thing I should say, we 77 00:06:34.319 --> 00:06:40.399 also know from scriptures that are good and God's glory doesn't always mean easy, 78 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:48.069 it doesn't always mean longevity, it doesn't always mean external or even internal blessings. 79 00:06:48.350 --> 00:06:56.430 In fact, the scriptures tell us very explicitly both in both directly and 80 00:06:56.550 --> 00:07:02.660 by examples that God tests us and that God sometimes makes our lives very difficult. 81 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:10.579 Consider, for example, Isaiah forty five seven, which says I form 82 00:07:10.660 --> 00:07:17.250 light and create darkness, I make wellbeing and create calamity. I am the 83 00:07:17.569 --> 00:07:24.889 Lord who does all these things. Mocking false gods, the prophets will say, 84 00:07:25.009 --> 00:07:29.329 look at this false idol that can neither do good nor evil, a 85 00:07:29.490 --> 00:07:35.560 contrast to the Lord, our God. Or consider ECCLESIAST fourteen on. Those 86 00:07:35.600 --> 00:07:41.560 of you who've gone through this recently in our afternoon processions will appreciate this. 87 00:07:42.600 --> 00:07:47.509 Remember this, ecclesiast fourteen. In the day of prosperity, be joyful and 88 00:07:47.670 --> 00:07:53.110 in the day of adversity, consider God has made one as well as the 89 00:07:53.230 --> 00:07:58.509 other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him. 90 00:08:00.459 --> 00:08:03.939 Pay attention to this. This is a very important life lesson right. 91 00:08:03.939 --> 00:08:09.379 If you get this, you will get something that so many people do not 92 00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:13.689 understand and are constantly frustrated by. Let me read it one more time. 93 00:08:16.170 --> 00:08:20.569 In the day of prosperity, be joyful and in the day of adversity, 94 00:08:20.730 --> 00:08:24.529 consider God has made one as well as the other. Why? Here's the 95 00:08:24.610 --> 00:08:31.040 reason. So that man may not find out anything that will be after him. 96 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:37.840 In other words, God makes life unpredictable on purpose. He makes things 97 00:08:39.000 --> 00:08:43.149 difficult to discover, he makes a certain amount, he makes the world with 98 00:08:43.230 --> 00:08:46.830 a certain amount of order that we tend to exp back certain effects from certain 99 00:08:46.870 --> 00:08:52.909 causes, but not a hundred percent. Why? So that we may not 100 00:08:52.190 --> 00:08:56.100 know. It's a humbling thing, isn't it? It's a humbling thing to 101 00:08:56.179 --> 00:09:01.059 know that we go out each morning into the world and we don't know whether 102 00:09:01.059 --> 00:09:03.299 it's going to be a good one or a bad one, a good day 103 00:09:03.299 --> 00:09:11.169 a bad day, a day of wellbeing or a day of calamity. Now 104 00:09:11.250 --> 00:09:16.210 I do realize that for many of us this kind of teaching is a real 105 00:09:16.250 --> 00:09:20.769 challenge because we tend to think that God, when God does all things for 106 00:09:20.929 --> 00:09:24.720 our good, that means God does all things to make our lives easy. 107 00:09:26.080 --> 00:09:30.840 We take these two words good and easy and we put them together in a 108 00:09:30.919 --> 00:09:37.240 way that God didn't intend. Good does not necessarily mean easy, especially in 109 00:09:37.320 --> 00:09:43.710 a world where there is sin. If you're plumbing gets plugged up underneath your 110 00:09:43.789 --> 00:09:48.190 home, getting its unplugged is not going to be easy. Were cheap. 111 00:09:48.389 --> 00:09:52.059 But will it be good? Yes, it will be good. Or take 112 00:09:52.139 --> 00:09:56.980 a more personal. Example, if you are choking on a piece of food, 113 00:09:58.460 --> 00:10:07.139 will getting it unstuck be easy? No. Seeing somebody remove a blockage 114 00:10:07.169 --> 00:10:11.370 from someone else's throat may even look violent to you. And yet is it 115 00:10:11.490 --> 00:10:18.450 good? Of Horse? It is saves life. Good sometimes does mean easy 116 00:10:18.610 --> 00:10:22.360 life, and heaven, for example, will not involve these kinds of things 117 00:10:22.440 --> 00:10:30.200 that I'm describing. Frustration, obstacles, days of calamity, but that's heaven. 118 00:10:31.840 --> 00:10:35.559 Good here on earth, however, doesn't always mean easy. Sometimes good 119 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:41.549 means hard, because God is solving problems, God is taking care of the 120 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:50.059 curse, he's resolving difficult things, and sometimes that requires difficult ways. Why 121 00:10:50.100 --> 00:10:54.820 am I talking about this? Well, of course you know, because this 122 00:10:54.980 --> 00:11:01.820 is a difficult story. Abraham is in a very difficult place. Abraham is 123 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:07.409 called here by God, our God, his God, to do a very 124 00:11:07.529 --> 00:11:15.730 hard thing, to sacrifice something not only valuable to him, but something that 125 00:11:15.889 --> 00:11:24.840 doesn't even make sense at all. A Ram, some food, my money, 126 00:11:24.879 --> 00:11:31.480 these things might make sense, but the promised child that we've all been 127 00:11:31.519 --> 00:11:33.830 waiting for, the one that you told me, no, not Ishmael, 128 00:11:35.070 --> 00:11:39.710 this one, this one shall be your offspring, the one that came from 129 00:11:39.029 --> 00:11:43.509 a barren woman. A one came in his old age, the son of 130 00:11:43.590 --> 00:11:50.340 promise. How confusing that must have been to be have been given this promised 131 00:11:50.340 --> 00:11:52.820 child, this chosen son, by God and then, by that same God, 132 00:11:54.100 --> 00:11:58.820 have him command that same son to be killed by you. How does 133 00:11:58.980 --> 00:12:03.889 that fit with God's promise? How does that fit with God's commands? Isn't 134 00:12:03.929 --> 00:12:11.610 this even murder? Noticeably missing from this story is the fireside chat where God 135 00:12:11.850 --> 00:12:16.919 sits down with Abraham and explains all these things to him. God never sits 136 00:12:16.960 --> 00:12:20.840 down with Abraham and says, I'm going to ask you how to do a 137 00:12:20.919 --> 00:12:24.000 tough thing here, but I want you to understand this is why, and 138 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:28.559 he lays it all out for him. It's not there. If I could 139 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:33.269 leave you with just one thing tonight, it's this. Sometimes God doesn't make 140 00:12:33.429 --> 00:12:41.789 sense in the world and in your life. He simply doesn't. But that 141 00:12:41.909 --> 00:12:46.659 doesn't mean that God is doing the wrong thing and it doesn't mean you can't 142 00:12:46.659 --> 00:12:52.340 trust him, because our job isn't to trust God when he only makes sense 143 00:12:52.460 --> 00:12:56.980 to us or when we've achieved a certain level of whatever our God is to 144 00:12:58.100 --> 00:13:05.490 our job is to trust God, period. That's it. Now, does 145 00:13:05.570 --> 00:13:09.649 this mean we turn off our brains? No, of course not. God 146 00:13:09.769 --> 00:13:13.960 calls us to use our minds, to study, to pay attention, to 147 00:13:15.159 --> 00:13:20.639 focus, to watch and pray. But there are times when you know what 148 00:13:20.840 --> 00:13:24.399 God wants you to do and you don't understand why or you don't want to 149 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:30.629 do it, and you have to do it anyway, and you do it 150 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:35.110 because you trust him. You do it because you know that you're not God 151 00:13:35.429 --> 00:13:41.820 and he is. Now, if you think this is totally impossible, totally 152 00:13:41.860 --> 00:13:48.059 unreasonable to do, remember that our kids do this all the time, every 153 00:13:48.100 --> 00:13:52.899 day. Children, are you not required to obey your parents, even when 154 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:58.210 it doesn't make sense to you, even when you haven't got it all figured 155 00:13:58.250 --> 00:14:03.169 out, even when you haven't been told and sat down and all the explanations, 156 00:14:03.210 --> 00:14:09.049 at least the ones that you feel are sufficient? Doesn't always happen that 157 00:14:09.090 --> 00:14:13.440 way. And of course, Isaac here in this story, just as God 158 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:16.759 didn't sit down with Abraham and explain either everything, neither did Abraham sit down 159 00:14:16.759 --> 00:14:22.360 with Isaac and explain everything. I want you to know, son, here's 160 00:14:22.399 --> 00:14:24.870 what God has told me and this is what we're going to do. He 161 00:14:24.950 --> 00:14:28.470 doesn't get that. Instead, in the same way that God calls Abraham and 162 00:14:28.590 --> 00:14:33.909 Abraham says here I am. In Verse Seven, Abraham Calls Isaac and Abraham 163 00:14:33.950 --> 00:14:43.259 says here I am. There're a lot of people, I think, a 164 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:50.179 lot of people who say that they want a close relationship with God, but 165 00:14:50.379 --> 00:14:56.289 honestly, I don't always believe them. I think that what some people want 166 00:14:56.330 --> 00:14:58.889 when they say this, when they say I want a close relationship with God, 167 00:15:00.250 --> 00:15:03.769 but they're really saying, is I want a good life, and not 168 00:15:03.970 --> 00:15:09.039 just good is in financially good. If they would if all they wanted his 169 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.519 money, they'd probably say that. But if they say I want a closer 170 00:15:11.559 --> 00:15:16.960 relationship with God, but they don't really want God, what they're really seeking 171 00:15:16.080 --> 00:15:26.950 is good things like meaning, inner peace, closeness with other people, calm, 172 00:15:26.470 --> 00:15:33.309 rest, wisdom, all good things. But they wanted on their own 173 00:15:33.429 --> 00:15:37.259 terms. They wanted on their own ways. And how do we know? 174 00:15:37.460 --> 00:15:41.460 We know because when God gives them things to do that they don't want to 175 00:15:41.500 --> 00:15:48.220 do, they say no. If you really want a close relationship with God, 176 00:15:48.580 --> 00:15:54.129 you have to have that on his terms, because he's God. Right. 177 00:15:54.210 --> 00:15:56.129 This would be like if I said, Oh, I want a close 178 00:15:56.210 --> 00:16:02.409 relationship with my wife, but not really my wife this imagination version of my 179 00:16:02.570 --> 00:16:06.519 wife or some other woman. That's not a relationship with my wife. A 180 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:11.080 relationship with women in general or a woman in general is not a relationship with 181 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:18.080 my wife. A relationship with my wife is a regaliation relationship with her in 182 00:16:18.360 --> 00:16:22.309 her desires, her feelings, her thinking, all of these kinds of things. 183 00:16:22.029 --> 00:16:26.830 Same thing with God or the same thing with God. If we want 184 00:16:26.830 --> 00:16:34.620 a relationship with simply meaning and wisdom and goodness and these morality, that's different 185 00:16:36.139 --> 00:16:41.700 than saying I want a relationship with God. Closeness with God, and closeness 186 00:16:41.779 --> 00:16:45.659 with God demands that we trust him even when we don't understand him, because, 187 00:16:45.659 --> 00:16:51.730 I said, he's God and we are not. He does things in 188 00:16:51.850 --> 00:16:57.210 this world purposefully to keep us in submission to him, to keep us a 189 00:16:57.330 --> 00:17:03.639 little bit unsteady, not because he hates us, but because he knows that 190 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:08.519 our ultimate life is not found in our finding steadiness in ourself, but our 191 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:15.150 finding steadiness and resolve and peace and all these things in him. That's where 192 00:17:15.150 --> 00:17:22.190 happiness is, that's where satisfaction in life and peaces. God gives these things, 193 00:17:22.950 --> 00:17:26.990 but he gives it to those who trust him. Going back to the 194 00:17:27.109 --> 00:17:32.859 parent child relationship. To deny all that and wanted a different way is like 195 00:17:32.940 --> 00:17:37.059 a child who wants mom and dad to love him, provide for him, 196 00:17:37.140 --> 00:17:40.259 have fun with him, give gifts, spend time, always be there, 197 00:17:41.059 --> 00:17:45.730 but won't listen to advice, refuses to obey the house rules, ditches off 198 00:17:45.849 --> 00:17:52.769 whenever they suit, whenever it suits them. A parent who gives into this 199 00:17:53.009 --> 00:18:00.839 and continues to, let's say, encourage this sort of unhealthy relationship, we 200 00:18:00.079 --> 00:18:07.880 say, is a parent that spoils a child. They create a bad child. 201 00:18:07.000 --> 00:18:11.160 In a way. Good parents love, give, cherish and courage, 202 00:18:11.359 --> 00:18:18.109 pray, support, love, laugh, Love, love, love, but 203 00:18:18.230 --> 00:18:21.029 they do so also in a way that says no, sometimes in a way 204 00:18:21.069 --> 00:18:23.910 says trust me, sometimes in a way that says sets boundaries. Sometimes, 205 00:18:25.470 --> 00:18:29.220 sometimes they tell their kids you're just going to have to trust me on this 206 00:18:29.299 --> 00:18:33.819 one. And if that's what a good parent is, why do we think 207 00:18:33.819 --> 00:18:37.819 that God should be a bad parent in order for us to call him good? 208 00:18:40.180 --> 00:18:42.049 Why do we think that God should be different than what we would even 209 00:18:42.049 --> 00:18:48.809 expect of like basic human parenting? We think of God? No, I 210 00:18:48.970 --> 00:18:51.730 want God in all of his closeness, all of us, communion, all 211 00:18:51.730 --> 00:18:52.809 of his time, all of his gifts, all his blessings, but I 212 00:18:52.849 --> 00:18:56.039 don't want to trust him, I don't want to obey him, I don't 213 00:18:56.039 --> 00:18:59.559 want to follow him, I don't want his wisdom and less of course, 214 00:18:59.599 --> 00:19:03.519 it already agrees with what I think, already agrees with what I feel. 215 00:19:04.519 --> 00:19:10.509 Again, God is God and we are not. He knows things that we 216 00:19:10.750 --> 00:19:17.829 don't know. His wisdom is beyond our wisdom. He knows also, by 217 00:19:17.869 --> 00:19:21.470 the way, how to love better than we know. He knows how to 218 00:19:21.509 --> 00:19:25.579 create good things for us and ways that we can't even begin to imagine. 219 00:19:26.019 --> 00:19:32.460 And sometimes that means life is hard. Sometimes that means things don't make sense, 220 00:19:33.779 --> 00:19:40.369 but ultimately in God they do find holy resolution. Just because they don't 221 00:19:40.410 --> 00:19:45.569 make sense doesn't mean God isn't at work and doing God undo and doing good, 222 00:19:45.609 --> 00:19:51.930 and we see that in this story, in this heartwrenching story. So 223 00:19:52.089 --> 00:19:57.400 what does God do here? God tests Abraham. We read that right there 224 00:19:57.480 --> 00:20:03.480 at the very beginning. After these things, God tested Abraham. He tests 225 00:20:03.559 --> 00:20:07.190 his faith, not just only for Abraham to see and of course the Lord 226 00:20:07.309 --> 00:20:12.349 to see, but us to public testing. And you know what happens? 227 00:20:14.869 --> 00:20:21.150 Abraham remains steadfast. He trusted God above everything else, even more than his 228 00:20:21.230 --> 00:20:25.740 immediate circumstances, even more than what probably made sense to him in the moment, 229 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:30.700 what caused him emotional pain. And he remains steadfast. James One hundred 230 00:20:30.700 --> 00:20:34.539 and twelve says, blessed is the main man who remains steadfast under trial, 231 00:20:36.170 --> 00:20:38.369 for when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life 232 00:20:38.849 --> 00:20:44.930 which God has promised to those who love him. As I said, very 233 00:20:45.009 --> 00:20:48.250 simple story. God is God and you are not. Sometimes God will test 234 00:20:48.250 --> 00:20:55.319 you and it's our job to trust him. But it's worth trusting him because 235 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:59.160 those who trust him will receive the crown of life. And that's what happens 236 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:02.480 with Abraham here. At the end of the story. His faith is proved 237 00:21:02.559 --> 00:21:06.069 true, he goes through this trial and on the end, there and God 238 00:21:06.309 --> 00:21:12.029 repeats all the promises that he had promised to him previously. Now you may 239 00:21:12.109 --> 00:21:19.700 ask why did God desire to test Abraham here, and in the spirit of 240 00:21:19.779 --> 00:21:25.660 the rest of the sermon, I will ask, before we can give any 241 00:21:25.740 --> 00:21:30.380 answers to this question, why did God Test Abraham? It's important that we 242 00:21:30.460 --> 00:21:36.609 check our own hearts if we ask this question. Are we asking it to 243 00:21:36.730 --> 00:21:41.970 be judge over God? Or we asking it to draw close to God? 244 00:21:42.289 --> 00:21:48.720 Are we looking for ways to excuse ourselves from obedience or to accuse God of 245 00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:52.960 unrighteousness? Are we looking to stand over God and we say we'd make this 246 00:21:52.279 --> 00:21:57.000 make sense to me before. I'm willing to submit to your word, or 247 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:00.319 are we willing to know the word and ask questions of the word so that 248 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.829 we might submit to him more so that we might draw close to him? 249 00:22:07.549 --> 00:22:11.750 God doesn't give us all the reasons why he tests Abraham. He never gives 250 00:22:11.789 --> 00:22:15.740 us all the reasons why he does the well, the reasons why God does 251 00:22:15.900 --> 00:22:22.819 things are Mirriad. Any single event has perhaps millions of possible reasons behind them, 252 00:22:22.019 --> 00:22:27.980 all simultaneously working by the marvelous hands of God. But so that we 253 00:22:27.980 --> 00:22:32.130 might draw close to God, considered just a couple things as we close. 254 00:22:33.849 --> 00:22:38.609 First, we know that this taught Abraham something, and Isaac and his servants 255 00:22:38.849 --> 00:22:45.359 and the world this unforgettable lesson, the one that we're learning tonight. Was 256 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:52.640 Abraham's trial worth that? Well, God seems to have thought so, and 257 00:22:52.759 --> 00:22:56.039 I'll agree with that. I'm blessed by this story and I hope that you 258 00:22:56.119 --> 00:23:02.390 are to his faith is recorded for us as an encouragement to us. Hebrews 259 00:23:02.990 --> 00:23:07.710 seventeen through nineteen says this. By faith, Abraham, when he was tested, 260 00:23:07.869 --> 00:23:11.869 offered up Isaac, and he, who had received the promises, wasn't 261 00:23:11.309 --> 00:23:15.700 was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was 262 00:23:15.779 --> 00:23:19.740 said, through Isaac shall your offspring be named. He considered that God was 263 00:23:19.940 --> 00:23:25.740 evil even to raise him from the dead, which, figuratively speaking, he 264 00:23:26.220 --> 00:23:30.890 did receive him back. This is the lesson for us. This is the 265 00:23:30.930 --> 00:23:34.569 lesson that God teaches us through Abraham. And, if we remember, God's 266 00:23:34.609 --> 00:23:40.450 been teaching us many lessons through Abraham and his life, this father of our 267 00:23:40.529 --> 00:23:44.559 faith. As we look back on our spiritual ancestry, as we look back 268 00:23:44.680 --> 00:23:47.839 and understand more of what God has done, these are the things that he 269 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:52.720 is teaching us. Praise be to God. A second thing we might know 270 00:23:55.680 --> 00:23:59.349 is that our our father, our heavenly father, was preparing the way for 271 00:23:59.589 --> 00:24:07.470 his own work and his faithfulness to fulfill these promises. Just as the birth 272 00:24:07.630 --> 00:24:11.980 of Isaac God there were many ways in which God proved that this would be 273 00:24:11.259 --> 00:24:17.180 his work. Even in the call to kill Isaac, God was still proving 274 00:24:17.299 --> 00:24:22.019 that this would be his work. If Isaac would die, he'd rise again 275 00:24:22.019 --> 00:24:25.250 from the dead. God would provide a lamp. Something was going to happen 276 00:24:25.410 --> 00:24:30.329 here that God was going to take care of. The promises of the Covenant 277 00:24:30.369 --> 00:24:34.130 are going to be taken care of by God. It is, after all, 278 00:24:34.569 --> 00:24:40.880 God's Covenant Of Grace, are Covenant which in which He grants to us 279 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:48.079 of these promises. It would not be by Abraham's protecting of these blessings in 280 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:53.430 a man centered, earthly centered way, but his trusting God to protect these 281 00:24:53.589 --> 00:25:00.430 things for him that they would come to be the birth of the son of 282 00:25:00.470 --> 00:25:04.630 Abraham was, of course, the beginning of the fulfillment of these promises, 283 00:25:06.470 --> 00:25:08.900 and the end of it would be the death of the son of God. 284 00:25:11.299 --> 00:25:15.619 In promising grace to Abraham and his son, we note that God was promising 285 00:25:15.819 --> 00:25:23.089 death to Jesus, his son, who went willingly not to his almost death 286 00:25:25.329 --> 00:25:32.369 but to his actual death. Here in Genesis twenty two, the plans are 287 00:25:32.450 --> 00:25:36.839 being laid. God is at work and, as we close, notice it 288 00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:42.039 in just this one small detail. The God commands Abraham to go, who 289 00:25:42.200 --> 00:25:48.079 read at the beginning? He calls him to go to Mariah, the land 290 00:25:48.160 --> 00:25:53.950 of Mariah, and offer him there as a burnt offering. This is interesting 291 00:25:55.029 --> 00:26:00.789 to note because it is on Mount Moriah that the temple is ultimately built, 292 00:26:00.990 --> 00:26:04.460 the place where God would dwell with his people. In second chronicles one, 293 00:26:06.460 --> 00:26:08.779 there's a lot of interesting context around this which we don't have time to get 294 00:26:08.779 --> 00:26:12.819 into tonight. But in this one verse Second Chronicles One, we read that 295 00:26:12.940 --> 00:26:19.130 Solomon began to build the House of the Lord. Hear that language of House, 296 00:26:19.569 --> 00:26:25.130 family and Temple and dwelling. Solomon began to build the House of the 297 00:26:25.210 --> 00:26:30.250 Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David 298 00:26:30.369 --> 00:26:33.160 his fought his father at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing 299 00:26:33.200 --> 00:26:37.839 floor of or an m the Jebu side. That whole those details are referencing 300 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:45.000 a whole other instant instance and which Israel was about to die and God saved 301 00:26:45.079 --> 00:26:53.470 them. Ultimately, of course, Jesus was crucified in on this spot. 302 00:26:55.670 --> 00:26:59.349 We can't say for sure whether it was on this exact spot, but in 303 00:26:59.549 --> 00:27:04.059 this general vicinity of the Temple of this Mariah, this place where Abraham took 304 00:27:04.140 --> 00:27:11.059 his son. God, the father, put his son, by the power 305 00:27:11.099 --> 00:27:18.170 of the Holy Spirit, to die for us so that these promises to Abraham 306 00:27:18.609 --> 00:27:25.250 would be fulfilled. So, brothers, sisters, do you see the faithfulness 307 00:27:25.250 --> 00:27:29.250 of the Lord? That's what the story is about. It's about the faithfulness 308 00:27:29.250 --> 00:27:32.559 of the Lord, but also the mystery of the Lord and our call to 309 00:27:32.759 --> 00:27:38.440 trust him, to trust him, to trust him no matter what. So 310 00:27:40.240 --> 00:27:45.069 I can promise you that God is true and I can also promise you from 311 00:27:45.109 --> 00:27:48.390 the word that your life not always be easy. But sometimes God will call 312 00:27:48.470 --> 00:27:56.150 you to do hard things. Sometimes those are things which maybe amazingly hard, 313 00:27:56.349 --> 00:28:02.339 like this, or sometimes things of it simply feel very hard and indeed are. 314 00:28:03.259 --> 00:28:07.940 Maybe you find your value in being busy all the time and God asks 315 00:28:07.980 --> 00:28:15.369 you to trust him and risk resting. Maybe that's very hard for you. 316 00:28:15.250 --> 00:28:19.210 Maybe it's hard to trust that you're going to be okay in the Lord. 317 00:28:22.049 --> 00:28:26.920 Or maybe you seek your salvation from troubles in alcohol or the Internet, and 318 00:28:27.720 --> 00:28:33.680 God asks you to wait on him instead, just wait on me. Or 319 00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:37.200 maybe you're involved in a relationship that you think will make you happy, but 320 00:28:37.279 --> 00:28:41.069 you know that God has not called you to it and it has to end 321 00:28:41.150 --> 00:28:47.789 and it's going to be hard and difficult. In all these things and the 322 00:28:48.150 --> 00:28:52.269 thousands of other things we might think of in life. Know that you can 323 00:28:52.430 --> 00:28:57.140 do the hard things when you trust in the Lord. Rely on his strength, 324 00:28:57.259 --> 00:29:00.259 put your faith in him, find your identity in him, trust in 325 00:29:00.380 --> 00:29:07.220 his promises. He will provide. He already has. He's given you everything 326 00:29:07.220 --> 00:29:11.450 in Christ and you can rest in him. Let us pray.