Abraham the Test
Notes
Transcript
What do I believe God wants us to know? That God test us to grow us into who God is called us to be
Why? We think test are bad
What do I believe God wants us to do? Pass teh test
Why? We become more and more like Him, more and more free, and more and more blessed
Emotoin: Encouraged and enlighted with rejoicing
ME/WE
One of my favorite things about summer break when I was in school—was not just that school was out for summer. It was that a certain aspect of school was over.
Tests.
I hated tests.
Anybody else hate tests?
I hated them not just because they were sometimes hard, but because they carried so much pressure. Like your whole brain’s worth could be measured in one hour by how well you filled in tiny bubbles with a #2 pencil. And what if you had a bad day, a bad night sleep?
So naturally, when I graduated, I thought:
“Finally. No more tests. I’m free!”
But… is that true? no.
- Turns out life is full of test
Kids test you
Job test you
Relationships test you
Patience is tested
Also who else TEST YOU?
GOD
Why would GOD TEST ME?
Not only does God test us, it is GOOD NEWS that HE TESTS US
HUH????
There are several passages I could read on this and today we will read one of those
Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds,
for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.
And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Wait—what?!
Joy? In a test? In a trial?
Let’s be honest—most of us don’t feel joy when life gets hard. We feel overwhelmed. Frustrated. Maybe even afraid.
How many of us actually feel joy in the middle of a trial?
Exactly.
So why does James tell us to count it all joy?
Let’s look at verses 3–4.
Because trials produce something. They build endurance. They grow perseverance.
And those qualities shape us into something we could never become on our own.
“So that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
God uses tests and trials to grow us into the man or woman He’s called us to be.
They’re not punishment. They’re preparation.
And hear this:
God’s tests are not signs of His absence—they’re evidence of His love.
He wants more for you. He sees what you can become. And sometimes, He allows testing because we’ve become too comfortable or too stuck where we are.
The truth is—we often wouldn’t move or grow unless God allowed the pressure to stretch us.
Why?
Because God has better for us.
And He’s not just a God who watches from a distance—
He is a good, good Father, refining us with purpose and love.
Also point of clarification.
God doesn’t tempt us. The enemy tempts us.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
TODAY WE ARE GOING TO LOOK AT THE TEST OF ABRAHAM
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
What are these things?
The verse begins, “After these things…”—so what happened?
Well, a lot.
- Even after God made a covenant with Abram, he and Sarai got impatient. Instead of trusting God’s timing, they tried to take matters into their own hands. Sarai said, “Have a child with our servant, Hagar” (whose name means immigrant). Abram said, “Okay!” But God said, “Not my plan.”
-Then later, Abram had to rescue Lot’s family again, this time from Sodom.
-And once more, Abram repeated a bad habit: he lied and said Sarai was his sister. But God protected her. He even gave Abimelech a dream and said, “She’s not his sister—she’s his wife.”
- And then, after 25 long years of waiting, something beautiful happened:
God kept His promise.
Abram and Sarai had a son.
Because God always comes through—even when we don’t.
The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised.
And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him.
Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac.
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him.
Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him.
And Sarah said, “God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.”
And she said, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age.”
Prasie God!
Then the test
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.
On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar.
Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.”
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together.
Take your son, your only son, whom you love…where have I heard this before?
What is going!?!….offer as a sacrifice? huh… Issac as promise and Issac is a teenager.
what is shockkng is not just the command but the response of Abraham. NO ARGUING THIS TIME, NO BARGINNING like he did for Sodom
-Why? Because Abraham has learned something over time: you can trust the heart of God even when you don’t understand His PLAN.
Abraham knew the promise
By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son,
of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.”
He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back.
Genesis 21:12 Issac is the promise coming through
And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?”
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
Where is the lamb?
God would provide
Issac trusted too
He is a teenager, probably could run away and stronger than Abram.
When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.
Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.
But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.”
He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.”
And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.
So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
God provide the RAM
Abraham receives the blessing!
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven
and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son,
I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies,
and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.”
So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba.
Praise God!
Abram trust God and receives the blessing!
Before we move onto application I also want us to
What happened on this same mountain—Mount Moriah—nearly 2,000 years after Abraham and Isaac?
Another Son was sent.
- He, too, climbed the mountain.
- He, too, carried wood on His back—a cross.
- But this time, there was no ram caught in the thicket.
- This time, the knife was not stopped.
THIS TIME THE SON BECAME THE SACRIFICE
Jesus Himself became the Lamb—the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
“On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided.” (Genesis 22:14)
And at the cross, it was.
And because Jesus trusted the Father, we now receive the blessings of God:
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—
so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.
Praise God
The question for us today
What is God testing you with?
Is he calling you lay something down?
- Career?
Plans?
Expectations?
Relationship?
Would you trust God to provide for you on Mt. Moriah?
