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If you got a Bible and I invite you to turn to Genesis chapter 22. As we go through the series of being Blessed together, one of the things I have learned to appreciate about my walk with God is that God doesn’t need me. And one of the freeing things about recognizing God doesn’t need me is, uh, I don’t stress out as much. I can stress with the best of them. Um, it’s not dependent upon me. Um, God is capable within himself, and he’s not looking on my performance to embrace me, but rather he’s looking at what Jesus has accomplished on my behalf. Right? And what Jesus accomplished says to me that God doesn’t need me. But really, God wants me. And and having known where I was without Christ. Um, I don’t know why. I don’t know why. Um, God would want me, but that’s one of the reasons. On a Sunday morning, like today, when we gather as his church and we worship his name, one of the things that just inspires me to to worship him is know that based on my performance, there was no reason for God to reach out to me and save me by his grace. But he still did. He did, and his love embraced me, and his grace was delivered to me in Christ. And even though he doesn’t need me, he wants me. And he created me for a purpose. And he created you for a purpose. On the flip side of that, we may not always want God.
But we need them. Matter of fact, we can fool ourselves sometimes when life is good. Um, just how desperate we are as people to depend upon him. Colossians chapter one tells us Christ created all things, and in him all things consist and hold their being. All things were created by him and through him. I mean, the reason we have a day is because Jesus, by his grace, is upholding it in his hands. I may not recognize how much I need him, but the truth is, I need him. And that’s an important thought for us to carry into Genesis chapter 22 together, because when we look at the life of Abraham, we are presented a story. Like every story that we read in American literature, there is a the beginning shortly after follows this problem leading up to a climax. And then you have the resolution, and we call that the end of the book. And it’s done. We get to the life of Abraham and Genesis chapter 21, and we see the fulfillment of God’s promise, which he gave to Abraham from the beginning, all the way back to Genesis 12 that we read together. Through you, Abraham. I will bless you. I will make you a great nation. And through that nation, all nations will be blessed. Abraham’s promise was land, seed and blessing a child of his own and a place of his own, that through him all nations would be blessed.
Now I would look at the story of Abraham in Genesis chapter 21 after Isaac is born, and I was saying, now the story is complete. Let’s let’s put the nice little bow tie on it and call it the end of the book, and the story’s over and let’s move on. In Genesis chapter 22, though, it tells us that God has a different plan. God promised Abraham he would bless him and bless all nations through him by the birth of a child. And God is a God who fulfills his promises. However, when God fulfills his promises, it doesn’t mean he’s finished. In fact, the truth is, he’s just getting started. He didn’t fulfill a promise to stop. He fulfilled his promise to continue on this journey that would ultimately lead to Jesus. That through Isaac, all nations would be blessed. This was just the beginning of a story that would be written through the people of Israel. And so to us today, Jesus has come. Jesus has given his life. And to those who trust in the Bible tells us that we are saved. But salvation is not the end of the story. The fact. It’s just the beginning. It’s the beginning of a journey that you will experience in the grace of God for all of eternity. That which for you were created. You were created for that enjoyment in God. Maybe a similar illustration I could use today is if your car were to break down.
And the Bible says we as people are broken. And that we don’t realize how alienated or how much we need God, how how distant we are from him. But Christ has reconciled that. And so as a vehicle is broken, as people, what we what we tend to do, hopefully we do this. We take it to the mechanic shop for repairs, but when we take it to the mechanic shop, we don’t just leave it at the mechanic shop. The whole purpose of taking it to the mechanic shop is so that we can receive that car back to ourselves and enjoy the journey. And so it is with Christ. The fulfillment of this promise in the coming. Of Isaac. Well so that Jesus would eventually come to this nation. As the beginning promise of which we could enjoy a journey in Christ for all of eternity. When God blesses us with good, it’s not. It’s not the end of the story. It’s the beginning of the book. As soon as Abraham had this kid, he could have just looked and said, okay, God, in the beginning, this is what you promised. And now that’s all done. And you go over here and let me just enjoy the rest of my life, because now it’s smooth sailing. I have everything that I could want. But the story tells us Abraham, who is now well over 100 years old, is still having soul stretching experiences, saying to us, we’re we’re never too old to face new challenges, fight new battles, and learn new truths.
But to be honest. When God continues to communicate to Abraham in Genesis chapter 22. The way that he shows Abraham how to walk with him. It’s one of those scenarios that just has you scratching your head at what God’s doing. In fact, when you read the first four verses, it says this. Now it came about God tested Abraham like God tested. God tested Abraham and said, take now your son Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah. Hold on to the thought of Moriah. We’ll share about that later and offer him there as a burnt offering. And on one of the mountains of which I will tell you so Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his donkey, and and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son. And he split wood for the burnt offering, and rose, and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham raised his eyes and saw the place from a distance. And God comes to to Abraham and tells Abraham now that he’s given Abraham what he desires. And God promised to bring Isaac to Abraham, God now offers. Abraham attests. My test is to sacrifice his son. And you read the beginning of chapter 22, and this just has you scratching your head. As American people, we think I know how the book goes.
Beginning, middle, end, climax, resolution. I saw the resolution in 21. What is God doing in chapter 22? Talking about the sacrifice of children. Not only is there a theological challenge, but there are tests. There are tests with the Lord. The Bible tells us that God tempts no one. And God’s desire isn’t for us to sin. But the Bible does talk about God allowing us to be tested. And here’s the beauty of a test for us as people. We get to examine where we really are spiritually before the Lord. We get to see if our faith truly relies upon him. Now, here’s the good news for those of you who hear the word test and just faint at the thought that God might give a test. God lets you cheat. Or at least copy. We get to examine the test that God has given Abraham to learn from the life of Abraham how to respond in our own circumstances in life. Abraham in Genesis chapter 22 becomes our example and handling this spiritual test. And so I’ll work through this theologically and the sacrifice of kids and how, how a God can do that. And then we’re going to work through it spiritually as well. And the test that God has given to Abraham as a way to duplicate within our own lives. In verse three, it tells us the mentality that Abraham carried as he journeyed through this test. And it says in verse five, Abraham said to his young men who went with him, stay here with the donkey.
And I and the lad talking about Isaac, we call our kids lads. Apparently I and the lad will go over there, and we will worship and return to you. As Abraham begins to take this test, he is determined within his mind. No matter how hard this test may be, I will choose to worship. If you ask me. The meaning of life. I think it’s as simple as what Abraham says in verse five. God created everything for his glory, including me. And when he created me for his glory, he also created and you for his glory. He created us uniquely in his image, meaning you get the opportunity to connect to Him as creator. God created you for his glory and the relationship that you would have with him being created in his image. And Abraham recognizes this in the circumstance, regardless of how difficult or easy it might be. And he says to himself, the most important thing, regardless of what I encounter in this world, is choosing to worship, to meet God in the right place, even if it is a hard place to understand that God is faithful to his promise. And to answer the question, are you faithful to use what he has given you for his glory? Truth is. And I walk with God. Adversity is one of the greatest teachers towards our relationship with the Lord. When things get difficult.
That’s when I really question God. Where are you in this? When I examine circumstances within my life that seem like there is no answer. Seems to be from a spiritual perspective. When my eyes open up to my real needs for the Lord. Adversity has been the greatest teacher in showing me, you, us how to worship and depend upon God. And so no matter how hard the test Abraham chooses to worship and Abraham in these moments, we could almost agree that he is certainly not trusting his feelings. But rather he’s doing this. Honing in on the promises of God in the midst of this test. Going through college. This is what I learned about my human nature. I am a sometimes a worrier. Big test the next day. You think about it all night. Medically. Big test in the morning. Your heart wrestles with sleep. Abraham in these circumstances, no matter how hard the test, choosing to worship hones in on the promises of God in the midst of this testing. And the test. Shows us. If Abraham really loves God. Honing in on the promises of God. It tells us later in Scripture, in Hebrews chapter 11, starting in verse 17, by faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promise was offering up his only son. It was he to whom it was said In Isaac your descendants shall be called. He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead.
This is what Abraham knew. God had promised him this son, and God had promised through this son would come the one who would bless all nations. And so when Abraham leaves in Genesis chapter 522 and verse five, it says that Abraham is going to worship. We will worship and look at this and return to you. That regardless of whatever happened to his Son and God’s request, and going up on this mountain to making a sacrifice, he knew that God would provide and he would come back from this mountain with his child. God was faithful to his promises. As people. As promises give us hope. Gives us the opportunity to look beyond the circumstance that may seem difficult. And to prove where our faith rests. You read about the early church and Christianity? And Pliny the Younger, one of the leaders in the Roman Empire at the time, recorded to Titus. He said, I keep killing these Christians, and they keep multiplying. He said it in Greek, but there you go. They keep multiplying. Why? Because they’re not afraid of death. It’s as if they think they’ll live forever. Hope gives Christians the ability to live beyond the circumstance and look forward to a glorious future in God. God doesn’t give us this promise in the resurrection of our child, as we would sacrifice, because God would never ask us to sacrifice a child today as he’s calling upon Abraham to do in this example.
But God gives us the promise of resurrection in him. And God says. All things work together for good. To those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. And so we can even take the opportunity as people trusting in a hope like that, to look at the cross and examine a place of such despicable shame and heartache and suffering, and see how Jesus himself becoming flesh, becoming a lowly servant, goes to that most despicable death and triumphs over it, and it becomes the symbol of our celebration in the Lord. The promises. Of God in the midst of a trial or a test is where Abraham hones to ace the exam that he’s taking. The third thing is we can discover the strength of our faith through a life test. I confess to you and my spiritual journey that the easiest place for me to find God is when things are going difficult. When there are solutions that are needed that I can’t see the answer. When there are problems I have that I have no strength to overcome. I look for God in those circumstances. But. But if we’re to be honest this morning, maybe we should ask the question what about when it’s good? In Genesis chapter three, when God cursed the Garden of Eden and he told Adam, Adam the you from the sweat of your brow, you will till up the thorns and thistles of the earth and and women. You will have pain in childbirth.
When God is labeling these curses to us. I think God understands we as people. When things go well, our tendency is not to lean towards him. But when things are a problem, we look to trust in him. And God is outlining the curse of creation in sin to say to us, it’s through those pains we will recognize him. But the question for us is, what about when it’s good? See Abraham in these moments, told to sacrifice Isaac. He had just gotten to the point of his life, the pinnacle of what God had proclaimed to him the promises that God wanted to give to him. And in these promises. God wants Abraham to recognize. Are you, Abraham? Even when you have it. Good. As her tendency to still trust in me with what you’ve been given. We look to God and say, God, it’s bad. Please help. What about God? When you’ve blessed, please take and use for your glory. Revelation. Chapter three records a church that was in that position. Physically, everything looks right for their lives. And so they saw no need to have a need. When things are lucratively provided for you and financially okay. Our tendency as people is to think that, you know, I have everything I need in life. But in revelation chapter three and verse 17 it says this you brag, I’m rich, I’ve got it made. I have need of nothing from anyone oblivious that in fact you’re pitiful and blind, beggars, threadbare and homeless.
All of us have a need for the Lord. And the good things that we experience in life. Do we recognize that recognize that by by turning it over to God. God comes to revelation chapter three. He comes to to Genesis chapter 22. And it’s important when we know we’re blessed. It’s important when we know that we’re provided for and we have what we need in life to realize just how precious those things are. That even the good things in life belong to God. God takes Abraham on to an altar to remind to an altar, to remind him that Isaac still belongs to him. But recognizing that the things in our own lives that God has given us to them are given those things to us. The truth is, there is nothing in this world I really own. Because when I die, there is nothing I’m taking with me. Everything created in life belongs to God and is intended to be used for his glory. I don’t own anything. I’m just a steward of the things he’s given. God allows certain things to pass through my hands that me, being created in his image as a creator, can use those things to reflect the beauty of who he is as my Lord. I don’t own them. They belong to him. And we are stewards of his kingdom. We must be careful that the good gifts that God gives do not replace the giver of those good things.
And so God takes Abraham on this mountain to remind him of of his position before the Lord as it relates to the goodness of Isaac being a blessing to his life. Lesson is. The God wants us to trust him. With everything he gives. Whether it be the challenges we face, we use it for his glory, whether it be the good things that he blesses us with, we turn it for his glory, both the bad circumstances and the good. Rather than hang around and ditch God when things are going well, we stick with them in everything we experience in life. Because Abraham reminded us in verse five, just worship. Weather in the valley or in the mountaintops. Just worship. It doesn’t belong to me. It all belongs to the Lord. And he’s given me this gift as a steward. And I choose just to worship that it can be used for his glory. Now, I would say that would be nice if I could stop there and well, not deal with the theological issue. But the truth is, the truth is take a step back for a minute. God just said, take someone on a mountain and kill them. How do you deal with that? And if you read a passage like this and you’re like, yeah, you know, I’m all right with it, you’re going to encounter someone at some point in life that says, man, God told told Abraham to go kill his kid.
I mean, what kind of God do you worship? How how do you process that? Well for this morning. You should know God isn’t going to ask us to kill a kid, okay? He’s not going to ask us to make a sacrifice of a child. In fact, after Abraham in the book of Leviticus, in chapter 20, verses 1 to 5, he talks about the law of not sacrificing children to to false gods, right, or to gods. In Proverbs chapter six, he says it’s wrong for us to kill. And so why is why is or I should say murder. Why? Why is this? Why is this passage in the Bible? Why is God giving this story? If he says in Leviticus, it’s wrong to sacrifice people or or we shouldn’t murder people. Why? Why is God saying this to Abraham? I should say the story of Abraham. Comes before God begins to write the law and what he requires in worship. Abraham lives in a place where child sacrifice is happening to false gods all around him. And God. At this point in history, probably the only point in history he could get by in using this illustration chooses this illustration among people groups who are sacrificing kids to false gods to differentiate him as a good god from the false gods around. You look at the gods of the people and the lives of. Those who existed during the time of Abraham. Those gods were very selfish gods.
They were. Gods of death rather than life. There were gods that took and destroyed rather than blessed with joy. And what kind of God would require your child to lose his life? And God’s going to use this illustration in the life of Abraham to to demonstrate that he is different than the other gods, rather than requiring death, he’s going to stop Abraham in the middle of the sacrifice, and he is going to become. What it says in verse 14 is the Lord provides or Jehovah Jireh in the midst of our need, in the midst of our trial, in the midst of death. God is life and provides life for us and joy in him. Abraham in this cultural teaching. Sees the beauty of who God is. And understanding that God wouldn’t require such a sacrifice. In an obedience to the Lord and worship towards him. Abraham sees how his faithfulness not only not only in the struggles, but also in the good times, is a blessing to the world. It says in Genesis chapter 22 and verse ten, Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, here I am. And he said, do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.
And then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. Abraham called the name of that place. The Lord will provide our Jehovah Jireh, as it is said to this day, in the mountain of the Lord, it will be provided. The beauty of. What God requires of Abraham for us. Is being able to see the sovereign hand of God work out in these moments. What I mean is this God isn’t a God who tries to figure out things on the fly. He’s a God who holds the beginning from the end. Which is people should bring us great comfort. And knowing that ultimately he has the say so. And he works it out for his good. Abraham comes to Genesis chapter 22 to offer his son, and verse 19 of chapter 11 and Hebrews it shares with us a little bit why or just an insight as to why God’s doing this. And Abraham’s thought through this, and it says, he considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type. Talking about the sacrifice of a son, knowing that God has promised that his son will be the seed that will bless all nations. He knows that if God requires the life of a son being sacrificed, that God will resurrect him from the dead.
And Abraham recognizes, from which he also received him back as a type. God allowed the son to live. As a type and that type that is referring to as Christ. Abraham’s sacrifice is ultimately pointing to the glory of Jesus. Here’s how we know. Abraham was asked by God to go to the land of Moriah. Which today is modern day Jerusalem. If you were to visit Jerusalem and you were to go to the Temple Mount, you would see that the Jewish temple that was placed there was destroyed. But on on top of that, there was placed a place of worship for the Muslims, which is called a dome of the rock. And underneath the dome of the rock there is a rock that is taught historically as the place through which Abraham sacrificed his son Isaac. God. Literally. Let a father. With his son. An age of innocence to the very place. God the Father would lead his son. To be the ultimate sacrifice for you and I. Abraham recognizing in his moments of desperation something that needs to intervene to stop his life from his son’s life, from being sacrificed. It tells us in the story, he looks up and he sees a ram caught in the thicket by thorns around the crown of his head. And so as the father led the son to pour his wrath upon him for you and for I, he provided a way of escape.
Just as this ram was caught in a thicket by by his crown of thorns. So Jesus was placed as a sacrifice for us with a crown of thorns upon his head. Three days. Abraham and his son took this journey. And for three days father looked as the son lay. As a sacrifice for us. Abraham knew that God took the good of his son and reflected the beauty of who Jesus was. Theologically, we deal with it. We see how Abraham handled it and acing his test and the question that becomes for us. When your time comes to take such a test before the Lord. Now. How can you ace it? We meet God at the right place, even if it seems hard. Especially especially when life is good. Recognizing that a true follower of Christ gives to God everything they have. So the question we take in such a test is this. What good thing. Do you hold as more important than God? What good thing is God given you as a steward for him? That you choose to hold for self. Rather than giving it back to God. And. Chuck Swindoll’s book on Abraham. He wrote a story about Corrie ten boom. Corrie Ten boom spent the last years of her life attending the church where Chuck Swindoll was a pastor. He’s. If you don’t know anything about Corrie ten boom, she was a credible woman who loved the Lord. She she was taken into a concentration camp.
She saw her her sister Betsy die in that camp. And when the war was over and she was set free, she established a ministry to minister to the Nazis who persecuted the Jews in the concentration camps. She recognized after the war. They had a difficult time recovering from the horrific things that they did to people. And she, by God’s grace, went back and ministered to them. Corrie ten boom knows what it means to serve God in the good and the bad. She knows what it means to sacrifice life, and to see life taken, and to watch life thrive. Chuck Swindoll wrote that she came to his church and after the service came up and and met him and his little kids, and she held out her little hands and, and placed her hands in Swindell’s hands as his kids were playing around, she said, listen to me, Pastor Swindell. Hold everything in life loosely. Hold everything in life loosely. Because if you don’t, it will hurt when the creator prised them from your fingers. They are his, you know. God gives us. Much in life to experience him. But the reality is it all belongs to him. I’m just a steward of the things he has given me. And the things that God has given me are designed to point to his glory, not for me to use for my own glory. The truth for us this morning. When I use things for my glory, I will always diminish the beauty for which it was created.
But by God’s grace, when they hand them over for his glory, he redeems it for a purpose far beyond my expectations. God can do far better. With the things that you hold on to in his hands than in yours. After this point, God comes to Abraham. In Genesis 22 and he says this. Then 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 thing and have not withheld your son, your only son indeed, I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is on the seashore. And your seed shall possess the gate of their enemies and your seed. All the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice. The encouragement today. It’s to not only look at the Lord and the bad things. To trust him with the good things. They belong to him. God created him for his purposes. Your home is his. The job you work belongs to him. The car you drive is his. The relationships in your life. They belong to him. He created them. And you have the opportunity and the goodness of what they are to return them back to him for his glory and praise. Because what God desires to do with them is far greater than anything that you could do for yourself.