The Altar: The Lord is our Provider

Genesis 22:1–9 NIV

1 Some time later God tested Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. 2 Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.” 3 Early the next morning Abraham got up and loaded his donkey. He took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. When he had cut enough wood for the burnt offering, he set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 He said to his servants, “Stay here with the donkey while I and the boy go over there. We will worship and then we will come back to you.” 6 Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and placed it on his son Isaac, and he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them went on together, 7 Isaac spoke up and said to his father Abraham, “Father?” “Yes, my son?” Abraham replied. “The fire and wood are here,” Isaac said, “but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” 8 Abraham answered, “God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them went on together. 9 When they reached the place God had told him about, Abraham built an altar there and arranged the wood on it. He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood.

ME

A young woman brings home her fiancé to meet her parents. After dinner, her mother tells her father to find out about the young man. The father invites the fiancé over for lunch.

“So what are your plans?” the father asks the young man.

“I am a bible scholar.” he replies.

“A bible scholar? Hmmm,” the father says. “Admirable, but what will you do to provide a nice house for my daughter to live in, as she’s accustomed to?”

“I will study,” the young man replies, “and God will provide for us.”

“And how will you buy her a beautiful engagement ring, such as she deserves?” asks the father.

“I will concentrate on my studies,” the young man replies. “God will provide for us.”

“And children?” asks the father. “How will you support children?”

“Don’t worry, sir, God will provide,” replies the fiancé.

The conversation proceeds like this, and each time the father questions him, the young man insists that God will provide.

Later, the mother asks, “How did it go, honey?” The father answers, “The bad news is, he has no job and no plans. The good news is he thinks I’m God.”

WE

It’s easy to trust God with the small things in life but, what about when serious stuff comes along. When crisis hits such as losing a job, getting that medical diagnosis, or anything else that changes the normality of life

or when we come to a crossroads and have a big decision to make such as who to Marry, where to work at, or how to plan for retirement. How much do we really trust that God will provide then?

GOD

The altar is a place where many have given their lives to God and found salvation in Christ.

We need to remember though that the altar isn’t a place just for salvation but, it’s a place also for our sanctification where we can be set apart from the world and experience Christ!

There is a place of “altaring” and a price of altering. Altars have a price--God intends that something be “altered” in us when we come to altars. To receive the promise means we make way for the transformation.

What Altars Represents

Primarily an altar was a place of worship; where God was adored for who He is and what He has done. Only burnt offerings were offered to Him in the days of the patriarchs, since the Law of Moses was not yet given.

An altar was also a place of testimony to the only true God in the midst of widespread idolatry. We read that Abraham built his altars unto the Lord, and that there he called upon His Name, recognizing no other god but Jehovah.

An altar was also a place of communion between God and the worshipper, where instructions were often given by the Lord and received by His servant.

The altar isn’t only a place where sinners come but, it’s also a place where saints can come to receive Gods Wisdom.

God uses altars like pins on a map on the way to our destinations.

In important times in our lives where he often alters our course of direction by given us wisdom and revelation about who He is.

Today we look at the Altar that Abraham built in which he named “The Lord will Provide” and the process along the way...

Now The Philadephia 76ers are a professional basketball team in the NBA. It was not to long ago when they had their struggles. Winning very few games as they were in a rebuilding mode. They were said to be “tanking there seasons”.

While this happened they were giving opportunities to players who didn’t get to play and get higher draft picks which meant they were able to get the best players available.

As you would expect, the fans became very frustrated because they didn’t like losing. The slogan for the 76ers during this time was “Trust the Process”.

Just “Trust the Process”.

In a way I think that’s what God wants us to do with us. Just trust Gods process, purpose, and plan with our lives. No matter how it looks to us.

we see first of all that…

1. Abraham was tested by God v1-3

a. Abraham was asked to offer a burnt offering v2.

There were five types of offerings in the Levitical system.

the peace offering

the grain offering

the guilt offering

the sin offering

the burnt offering

Now the burnt offering was a sacrifice by fire that was burned whole. It was a gradual burning that would last usually from morning to evening. It symbolized a consecration to God.

God gave Abraham very specific instructions on what he should do so there would be no mistake about it. “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love”

I remember this story by a youth minister. A parent of a teen called him and said his son was in a ski-ing accident and hurt his hand.

So Mark went down to the hospital. When he got their to be with the parents of Martin, the doctor came out and said I have good news and bad news.

The good news is that Martin’s hand is fine. The bad news is, in the bloodwork we have done, we have discovered that Martin has Leukemia.

For the next year and a half, the youth minister observed the struggles of the mother and father. He said that "His mom often stayed up with (Martin) until he fell asleep.

She would rub his back and try to comfort him, but she felt helpless. Some nights, his dad, John would wake up and walk down the hall to his room and watch his son sleep.

As he stood there, he would try to imagine what life would be like without his son."

He’d often pray and cry out “Oh God take the cancer out of my son. Take me, but don’t take my son”.

My favorite part of this story is…today Martin is cancer free

God tested Abraham and he also tests me and you. He doesn’t test us though so he can know because God is all-knowing. He tests us so we can be aware of our own faithfulness to him.

Satan tempts us to bring out the worst in us, but God tests us to help bring out the best.

The most severe tests do not come from people, but from the Lord, and yet the greatest blessings always accompany them.

God never tested Lot in this way. Lot lived on such a low level that Sodom and the world tested him.

It is the saint that walks closest to the Lord that God tests the greatest for His glory.

In verse 2 we see the first mention of love in the Bible, which I find interesting.

and it was the love between a father and son, connected with the idea of the sacrificial offering of the son.

now we also see Along with Abraham being tested by God that…

2. Abraham worshiped while he was tested v4-6

It’s easy to worship God when things aren’t going our way but, we need to worship him in every season of our lives.

Worship isn’t just for Sunday mornings. Its for every day of the week. Worship is a lifestyle. It’s how we live our lives. It is to be lived out in front of others.

The Hebrew word for Worship means to bow down. This shows honor, reverence and humility to God.

Also we see...

3. Abraham was questioned by Isaac v7-8

a. Isaac asked where is the Lamb?

b. Jesus was questioned by Peter when he explained that he must suffer many things, die and be raised to life.

c. We too, will be questioned by others when we put of faith and trust in God when circumstances in our lives don’t seem favorable to us.

4. Abraham trusted God to the very end v.9-10

YOU

When you find yourself in a place of testing. Will you choose to worship him or walk away from him?

Will we choose to listen to the doubters or will we listen to the voice of truth? Will we be bold and courageous to the very end or will we be cowards and cave in at the end?

WE

We all will have moments in life where we will have an opportunity to build a spiritual alter and dedicate it to the Lord.

There are Pivitol times in our lives where we can choose to die to ourselves and live for Christ and we can declare that the “Lord will provide”.

*CLOSE IN PRAYER