“A Non-Blind Faith”
Notes
Transcript
If you are a parent of a young child—or if you were one and your kids are already grown—there are a few things you know for sure. And if you don’t have children yet, it would be wise to listen, because there’s a lot of wisdom here:
a) Young children seem to have only three emotions: pure joy, dramatic tragedy, and uncontrollable anger.
b) They don’t manage those emotions well, and they can move from one to another in a matter of seconds.
c) The more dirt, the more fun.
d) Silence at home… something is wrong.
You don’t learn these things from books or classes, but through real, hard, lived experience.
I’m originally from Mexico, and I’m part of the NFL fan base outside the United States. Yes, football is also popular beyond the U.S.
Back in 2021, we were at my parents’ place watching Super Bowl 55—Tom Brady, the Bucs, the whole thing—when suddenly it hit me: I hadn’t heard Ruth in a while.
She had been playing in my parents’ patio. We had already turned off the grill; the chicken and BBQ ribs were ready, and we were inside eating and watching the game. She stayed outside playing with her dolls—or at least that is what I thought.
Then I remembered the ancient parental wisdom: “Silence at home… something is wrong.”
So I quickly went outside to see what Ruth was doing, and I found that little three-year-old Ruth had discovered her grandmother’s lipstick and had decided to create a masterpiece.
Ruth had turned into a pink minion. (Photo 1)
I know my daughters. I know them well.
And I know that if I don’t hear them fighting—and then crying dramatically like someone is removing a kidney without anesthesia—or if I don’t hear them laughing until they can’t breathe, or if I don’t hear their favorite cartoons playing in the background, something is wrong.
And I don’t know that from a book. I know it from experience.
Keep that in mind, because it’s gonna help us a lot as we walk through Genesis 22 and talk about two concepts that sound very normal in the Christian life: “faith” and “to know”.
I’ve heard people say that following Jesus requires blind faith—that you have to turn off your brain and just follow, like a robot, a fairy tale passed down from generation to generation. But that’s not true. Following Jesus—real faith—has nothing to do with blind faith.
Just because we can’t see doesn’t mean our faith is blind.
True faith is rooted in knowing the person we’ve placed our faith in.
The kind of faith God receives is not blind faith; it’s a faith that rests fully and confidently in Him.
That’s why the author of Hebrews says…
looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith…
So let’s go to Genesis and simply ask the Father to help us see what He wants us to see today, learn what He wants us to learn, and be encouraged, comforted, or even challenged however He chooses.
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. 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.
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.”
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.
PRAY
1. A Non-Blind Faith Listens to God’s voice because it knows who God is (Genesis 22:1–2)
1. A Non-Blind Faith Listens to God’s voice because it knows who God is (Genesis 22:1–2)
Abraham is a very well-known figure in Scripture. He’s mentioned throughout the New Testament—in Matthew, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, Galatians, 2 Corinthians, and James.
But who was this man, really? Let’s take a quick look.
Abraham was a pagan man to whom God revealed Himself.
He was originally from the city of Ur of the Chaldeans, in what is now southern Iraq. That matters, because when God first spoke to him, Abraham didn’t believe in one God—he believed in many gods.
He probably worshiped gods like
Nanna, the moon god—the main god of Ur, whose great ziggurat was dedicated to him (Photo 2)
Utu, the god of the sun and justice
Inanna, the goddess of love, fertility, and war;
Anu, the god of the sky
Enlil, the god of wind and power
and Ea, the god of wisdom and creation.
Then one day, Abraham heard a new God.
A different God.
A God who actually spoke to him and told him to leave his family, his land, and everything familiar—and to follow Him wherever He would lead.
And Abraham obeyed.
Now, if you’re like me, you might ask, “Why would he do that? Why would someone walk away from stability and everything they know to follow the unknown?”
Here’s the key: this new God was different.
This God spoke.
I can guarantee you Abraham never heard a single word from those statues—but this God spoke, and even more than that, Abraham listened.
Non-blind faith is born from hearing the voice of God.
After that, God promised Abraham that a great nation would come from him—even though he and his wife Sarah couldn’t have children and were already very old.
After many years of waiting, doubts, failures, and tests, God finally kept His promise and gave them Isaac, the promised son.
Isaac wasn’t just the child Abraham loved; he was living proof that God does what He says He will do.
From the very first time Abraham heard God’s voice to what we just read in Genesis 22, about forty years had passed—forty years of slowly getting to know God.
Abraham didn’t start with a “mature faith.” His faith grew as his understanding of who God is grew.
Now, let’s go back and look again at those opening verses we read earlier.
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.”
When God spoke, Abraham responded.
So let me ask you—Is God speaking to you?
And are you responding?
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Do you hear the voice of the Son?
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
As I’ve told you before, I come from another country, and one of the things I’ve noticed is that one of the biggest issues in the Christian community here in the U.S. is the number of what I’d call “cultural Christians.”
This is a very Christianized society, but it doesn’t always listen to the voice of Christ.
There are churches everywhere, but there’s a lack of revival—because the voice of the Son isn’t being heard.
And this is key: only those who belong to the Son can truly hear the Son.
So let me ask you—are you reading the Scriptures?
Are you hearing the voice of the Son in them?
And if not, would you be willing to consider that today God might be calling you to repentance—to come and fully surrender to Him?
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Are you listening to God’s voice?
2. A Non-Blind Faith obeys God’s voice because It knows God’s power (Genesis 22:3–8)
2. A Non-Blind Faith obeys God’s voice because It knows God’s power (Genesis 22:3–8)
Remember, Abraham began his journey with God without really knowing Him.
It was through personal experience that he learned who God is and how powerful He is.
That pattern hasn’t changed.
God reveals Himself to people who don’t know Him, and when they’re attentive to His call, little by little, God shows them—through experience—who He is and how great His power is.
That happened to me, it’s happened to many others, and if it hasn’t happened to you yet, but you believe in Christ, repent, and surrender to Him, it will happen to you too.
But we need to be careful, because it seems like today we often confuse “to know someone” with simply “knowing about someone”
We know about the Bible—especially in a culture like this one—but many times we don’t really know the One the Scriptures are pointing to.
In verse three, we see something really interesting:
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.
The result of hearing God’s voice is obedience—doing what God asks us to do.
Now, how was Abraham able to obey such a shocking command from God?
This is where his experience with God comes into play. Remember, Abraham came from a pagan, polytheistic background.
He had grown up believing there were many gods. But over the course of forty years, God patiently led him, step by step, teaching him just how great and powerful the Lord really is.
Think about it the way Abraham might have reasoned it out:
the other gods don’t speak—but the Lord does.
the other gods are stuck in temples—but the Lord isn’t.
the Lord appears to me—those gods never did.
the other gods can’t give a child to an old, barren woman—but the Lord can.
the other gods didn’t judge Sodom and Gomorrah—but the Lord did.
So in simple terms, just like 1 + 1 = 2 ,
THE LORD = absolute power.
Now, some people might say, “Pastor, slow down—you’re reading too much into the text. Don’t add to Scripture.”
And to them I’d like to say, let’s take a look to what Hebrews 11 says…
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.
Back in those days, it was common for people to sacrifice their children to please their gods—but that’s not why Abraham obeyed.
Abraham obeyed because he knew this God was different, unique, and powerful.
And even though he didn’t understand how, he trusted that God had the power to change the outcome.
That’s what faith is.
Trusting that God knows better, can do better, and is better than me.
Trusting that even when it hurts, even when things don’t turn out the way I want, even when I don’t understand, God knows better, can do better, and is better than me.—and because of that, I choose to obey Him.
Look at how Abraham responded:
Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together.
What does the text say Isaac did? He followed him.
He followed his father—right up the mountain.
Parents, our trust in God, our love for God, and our dependence on God don’t stop with us.
They directly shape the people who are following us.
Our kids need to see us say, with real conviction, “God knows better, can do better, and is better than me.”
Our children need security, confidence, and clarity. But many times, what they experience instead is frustration, confusion, and fear.
And that often shows up as parents who are angry and overwhelmed—not because they don’t go to church on Sundays, but because they don’t truly know God at home, and everything still feels like a mess.
May that not be true of us, church.
May our kids see that when we don’t know what to do, and when we don’t have the strength, we go to God in prayer, we listen to His voice in the Scriptures, and we invite them to learn how to do the same.
This kind of confidence isn’t irrational.
It’s a trust that grows out of experiencing God.
It’s not just academic knowledge—it’s knowing God personally. And that kind of experience doesn’t just happen by accident. It requires intentional obedience.
Because it’s in those moments—when you choose to believe, when you choose to obey, and when you do something that goes completely against what you would naturally do, but lines up with what God is asking—that something powerful happens: it’s no longer you at work, it’s God at work in you.
That’s exactly what Scripture says:
for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
3. A Non-Blind Faith Worships God’s Glory Because It Knows God’s Love (Genesis 22:9–19)
3. A Non-Blind Faith Worships God’s Glory Because It Knows God’s Love (Genesis 22:9–19)
It’s true that the last part of the passage we’re reading starts with a scene that, at first glance, can feel disturbing—a father preparing to sacrifice his son.
But that’s not the whole picture.
Scripture tells us:
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.
What Abraham built wasn’t an operating table or a butcher’s table—it was an altar, a place to worship God.
When we have a non-blind faith, we listen to God’s voice, we obey His voice, and as a natural result, we worship Him.
Why does that matter?
Because worship is simply our response of love to God’s love.
So how was Abraham responding in love to the love God had shown him?
All the way to the end, Abraham was making it clear that he loved God more than anyone else in the world.
And he could do that because he knew he was loved by God—because God had spoken to him and revealed Himself to him.
And because of that, we see what I’d call the “cycle of love” come into play:
out of love, God spoke to Abraham;
out of love, Abraham obeyed;
out of love, God stepped in;
and as a result, even Isaac was blessed.
Look at what verse 13 says:
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.
What did Abraham do next?
He took what God had provided—and he worshiped.
So many of us, as Christians, live weighed down by anxiety, stress, and discouragement because we don’t worship.
When we worship, we’re reminded of who God is and who we are.
One of the saddest realities in many churches today is that after the worship set is over, the congregation still has their voice, they haven’t lose it.
What do I mean by that?
I mean we’ve just been given the chance to worship the King of kings through music, to offer our songs to the Father—and yet people don’t sing.
I know some of you might be thinking, “Pastor, I’m actually doing everyone a favor by not singing,” and maybe that’s true.
But have you noticed how at concerts people sing at the top of their lungs, whether they can sing or not? Or how when the Huskers score a touchdown, everyone’s yelling and celebrating, no matter how bad their voice sounds? And by the end of the concert or the game, the most passionate fans have completely lost their voice.
If things that aren’t eternal can move us that much—enough to make us lose our voice—why doesn’t worshiping our God do the same?
Could it be because we don’t really know, in a practical way, the One we’re singing to?
If that’s the case, you can start today. God wants our worship.
Think about it this way: if singing is already that hard for us, how much harder will it be to live out there, day after day, for the glory of God?
Church, everything we do in our lives is—or at least should be—an act of worship and praise to God.
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Genesis 22 is a testimony of worship—it’s the picture of a heart that knows God and, because of that, listens, obeys, and worships.
Genesis 22 teaches us that even in the hardest circumstances, we can—and we are called to—worship God, because the more we do, the deeper our fellowship with the Father becomes.
Maybe today you feel like you don’t have many reasons to worship. Maybe you feel weighed down.
Maybe it feels like God has forgotten about you. Let me tell you this on God’s behalf: He has not forgotten you. He sees you. And He loves you.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
If we’re alive today, it’s only because the Eternal God has allowed it.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Church family, in Genesis 22 we see a man who truly knew his God.
A man who had walked with Him for decades.
A man who had learned, through experience, that God speaks, that God is powerful, and that God loves.
That’s why Abraham listened.
That’s why Abraham obeyed.
And that’s why Abraham worshiped.
His faith wasn’t blind. It was a faith shaped by revelation, strengthened through experience, and sustained by the love of God.
And that same God is still speaking today. He’s still showing His power today.
He’s still revealing His love today.
The question isn’t whether God is trustworthy. The real question is whether we’re willing to trust Him with everything.
Maybe today God isn’t asking you to climb a mountain with your son—but maybe He is asking you to surrender a sin you’ve been holding onto, a relationship that’s pulling you away from Him, a pride that won’t let you fully surrender, or a faith that’s been more cultural than transformational.
A non-blind faith isn’t satisfied with just knowing about God. A non-blind faith knows God—and when it knows Him, it responds.
Right now, I want to ask you something very simple, but very serious.
If today you realize you’re not really listening to the voice of the Son, if you recognize that your faith has been more cultural than alive, if you understand that you know a lot about God but don’t truly know Him, today is the day to respond.
Maybe God is calling you to repentance. Maybe He’s calling you to a genuine faith. Maybe He’s calling you to full surrender.
Don’t ignore His voice. Scripture tells us that faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ. If today you’re hearing His voice, don’t harden your heart.
If you need to pray, if you need to surrender, if you need to ask for help, this altar is open.
You don’t come because you’re strong—you come because you recognize that God is greater.
You don’t come because you have everything figured out—you come because you know He knows more, He can do more, and He is greater than you.
If you’re a parent and today God is challenging you about the example you’re setting at home, come.
If you’ve been living with fear, anxiety, or control, and today you need to trust again, come.
If you’ve never truly placed your faith in Christ, and today the Spirit is calling you, come.
This is a moment between you and God. A moment to listen. A moment to obey. A moment to worship.
Because a non-blind faith always responds to the God who reveals Himself.
YOU ARE LOVED.
