Trust in Testing Notes

Intro

The binding of Isaac and pastoral ministry

Abraham a leader in Israel

God tests our faith. Trusting God is times of Testing Brings God’s Blessing

Why is the important for us today?

God doesn’t need us to accomplish his work. Did God need Abraham?

Testing in the days ahead.

Afraid we forgot that faithfulness is the bar that is set for God’s people. Yes…grace, grace, grace… but not at the expense of a Spirit-empowered intensity to get on the front lines and do work for the Lord.

Cheap grace.

It is fitting that the Lord test his under-shepherds. Did God test Abraham more because he was to lead God’s people?

Bouchoc quote.

I’m going to argue from this passage that Trusting God in times of testing brings God’s blessing.

Outline

We’re going to look at this text in three sections:

1-2 God’s test

3-12 Abraham and Isaac’s trust

13-18 God pours out blessing because of Abraham’s faith

God’s test (22:1-2)

Read verse 1-2

God tests Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice what was dearest to him

APPLICATION: “What’s dear to you, brothers?”

Rich young man. God knows the heart.

Blank check life.

“He is no fool to give what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”-Jim Elliot

Abraham and Isaac trust the Lord in their testing(22:3-10)

Read verse 3.

Makes himself available. Heart stance

Acts quickly.

APPLICATION: What do you do when you sense the Spirit’s prompting to do something, say, share the gospel with someone? Do we shy away from those opportunities and quench the Spirit, or do we press into them with faith?

Read verse 4 and 5

Abraham sees his sacrifice as worship (22:3-5)

He views being obedient to God’s commands as worship.

And he says that he and Isaac will go and worship and come (first person plural) to them again. This is a statement of faith.

God’s promise to Abraham.

APPLICATION: Do the words that you speak in times of testing declare to others that you’re trusting in the Lord? Future as well

Read verse 6 and 7.

Issac asks a legitimate question.

Transition: And how does Abraham respond?

Read verse 8.

And you know what happen’s next.

Read verse 9 and 10

What was Isaac doing in all of this?

Tears in their eyes/

Does that sound like another Son you know?

We then see how Abraham does on his test.

Read verse 11 and 12

God wasn’t going to let Abraham kill Isaac from the very beginning. The testing of his faith was to see if he would obey God’s command and to trust that God would keep his promise.

Did Abraham make a sacrifice on that day?

Recap

God’s test, Abraham and Isaac’s trust

God brings blessing to and through those that are faithful through his testing (22:13-18)

Now faithfulness to God in times of testing doesn’t mean he’s going to bring a major revival through you and bring 1000s of people to faith through your preaching… maybe he’ll do that. But trusting God in times of testing brings God’s blessing in two ways we see in this passage:

Worship for those who walked through God’s test and were found to be faithful

Witness to the world

Worship

Read verse 13 and 14.

Look at the worship service that Abraham and Isaac have after they past the test.

APPLICATION: Can you think of a time where God came through huge for you? I’m talking about in the moment.

Hannah and Tobias.

Abraham commemorates this by naming the place The Lord will provide, or the Lord will see to it. The Lord will see to it that his promises come to pass. They worship God because he was true to his word, giving them yet another reason to trust him in their testing.

The other way that trusting God in times of testing brings God’s blessing is that it is a Witness to the world

Read verse 15-19

The OT version of “I will build my church and the gates of hell won’t prevail against it.”

Notice God used someone with deep faith to do this through.

Let’s not chalk God’s sovereignty up to making a bunch of robots that the promise would be carried through. There were people in Israel’s history that were faithful to God and loved him, like Abraham. They surely would’ve been witnesses to others.

Not our faith that saves, but our faith points to the savior.-Walk back to Beersheba.

look to the savior

petfect obeyed, willingly,

all the authority and power in the cosmos. Bound to the cross

good works that we should walk in them

let us be those that trust in times of testing