The Path to the Plank

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Intro: Big Alabama fan. It became an idol

Tonight, we are continuing our series “Walk the Plank” as we look at the lives of various people in scripture that modeled well dying to self and walking the plank.

Last week we looked at John and how his whole life and ministry was about one thing: Jesus increasing and Him decreasing

We are going to look at the life of Abraham and what i’m going to call his “Path to the Plank”

We will be in multiple different passages throughout Genesis, first starting in Genesis 22:1-8

Main Thing: God calls us to offer up idols in our life in order to love him more

I start with this passage first to show you where we will end. But I want to back track and show you how Abraham got here. His Path to the Plank so to speak

1. The Promise (Genesis 12:1-3)

Story of moving from KY to TN

In this passage, we see God make multiple promises to Abram:

To make of him a great nation

To bless him

To make his name great

To be a blessing to others

To bless those who bless him

To curse those who dishonor him

To bless all the families of the earth in him.

Does anyone want to take a guess as to how old Abram was when he was promised all this? 75 years

The most notable promise that God made was to make a great nation from Abram

Why? Because at this point, him and his wife had no children. And they were 75 years old.

If you are not aware, the average age that women stop having children is 45-55. At this point in the story, Sarah would have been roughly 65 years old. So well over the age of having babies

The dilemma is clear: God is promising to make a great nation from Abram yet he has no children and the age to have children is no over.

But even still, he obeys Gods command to go.

2. The Doubts (Genesis 15:1-6)

Abram now receives a vision from the Lord saying that the Lord is his shield and he will be rewarded greatly. But Abram reminds the Lord that he is still childless.

At this point, Abram is roughly 85 years old.

It’s been 10 years since God promised to make a great nation out of Abram.

God then brings Abram out of his tent and shows him the stars of the sky. He says that will be the number of your offspring (show picture)

This had to be a remarkable experience and hard to believe. Yet Abram believed the Lord. He trusted what God said.

3. The Change (Genesis 17:1-8, Genesis 17:15-21)

This is when things begin to change for both Abram and Sarai.

The Lord continues to promise that He will multiply Abram and his offspring.

But the Lord changes his name from Abram to Abraham — anyone know what those names mean? (exalted father & father of a multitude)

Then God changes Sarai’s name to Sarah.

v.16 — it reads in my bible “I will give you” but in Hebrew it is better translated “I have given you.” That’s stunning. It was as good as done.

Shortly after that, a few chapters over, we see that Sarah gave birth to a son. His name was Isaac.

Around this time Abraham is 100 years old and Sarah would have been 90 years old. The mere fact they had a child was a miracle and working from the Lord.

4. The Sacrifice (Genesis 22:1-8)

I wanted to take you through the life of Abraham for a reason: At the time Isaac was born, Abraham would have been 100 years old and when God first promised to make from him a great nation, he was 75. He had to wait for 25 years to see the promise answered.

Imagine how special Isaac was to him. His very own son. The son who was long awaited.

Think of something you knew you would get when you got older.

For me, it was a truck — i knew someday I would be able to drive and I wanted to drive a truck. I wanted my own vehicle. I knew it was only a matter of time

There is no doubt that Abraham loved Isaac.

In the passage we just read, we now see God say “go” again. The Lord had fulfilled his promise and is now telling Abraham to go and offer up his son.

God called him to offer up what he loved.

This was Abraham’s death to self moment. Up until then, he had already died to himself and chose leave his country and family and he went where the Lord showed him

But now God is asking more than just to leave his land and family. But to offer up his family. His only son. The son through which Abraham’s lineage and name would grow. And if he sacrifices Isaac, it would all be ruined. The Lord truly tests him. Does Abraham love Isaac, his own son or the Lord who gave him Isaac more?

“Strong faith is often exercised with strong trials.” (Matthew Henry)

Long story short, Abraham obeys. He gets up the next day with his son. He goes up the mountain. He binds his son to the altar and as soon as He is about to strike Isaac, an angel stops Abraham. The Lord provided a ram to be in his place.

What does this matter to you?

God may be asking you to offer up something that you love in order that you may love him more.

Remember the main thing

Main Thing: God calls us to offer up idols in our life in order to love him more

Isaac may not have been an idol, but God asked Abraham to offer up that whom he loved.

There may be an idol in your life that is stealing your love for God

Think about what you spend the most time on? Or what/who gets most of your attention? Or what you spend the majority of your money on?

There’s a good chance that is your idol. and God is calling us to offer that up. To sacrifice it

We must ask ourselves: Do I love the gift or the giver more?

“In matters to God, whoever consults with flesh and blood, will never offer up his Isaac to God.” (Matthew Henry)— In other words, if we do not die to our sinful nature, we will never give up what God is calling us to give up. Who/what is your Isaac?

Gospel View:

Just as God asked Abraham to offer up his only son, whom He loved, so would God.

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

God made the ultimate sacrifice to demonstrate his love for us… what will you sacrifice to demonstrate your love for him?